


Prince Consort

by hunters_retreat



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, December Drabble Days, Fae Jensen, Human Jared, Jared had power, M/M, Reunion Fic, separated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-12
Updated: 2013-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-20 15:13:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 36,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4792277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunters_retreat/pseuds/hunters_retreat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared Padalecki had what most people want; a good home, great friends, and a fulfilling job. The only thing Jared is missing is a love life – and after a few glasses of wine he’s happy enough to tell people about the pains of being mated to one of the fae. Jared’s life is turned upside down though when Titania, Queen of the fae and his mate’s mother, shows up demanding he use his bond to find her lost son. Jared doesn’t know where to find Jensen, but with his friends in tow, he heads back to the Otherworld to face the four tribes of the fae to find his wayward mate. Will Jared be able to find Jensen through a bond that has been three year muted? And can he find a way to save Jensen before the tribes of the Otherworld try to rip him and his friends apart?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

 

 

 

“The thing they forget to mention, when they say ‘til death do us part, is that when you’re with a fae, they mean it,” Jared said softly as he swirled his wine slowly in the crystal in his hand.  “They don’t tell you that they have more secrets than humans have blood cells and that once you are bound to one you have no choice but to follow them wherever they will it.”  
  
“Then how is it I’ve never seen you with this bondmate of yours?” Misha asked as he leaned forward.  “If you were bound so completely, why isn’t this fae of yours with you now?”  
  
It was the end of a long night and Jared was grateful for the few friends who were sitting in his living room, bringing in the solstice with him.  Not that they knew he was celebrating it, but Jared had been with his fae-mate for too long to stop celebrating even if he had found a way to separate them.   Most of the others had gone home, but his closest friends were still there and Jared had drunk too many glasses to censor his thoughts about the fae tonight.  No matter that one of the guests was a fae himself.   
  
Jared held up an arm and they saw the woven bracelet with onyx stones interspersed around it.  
  
“You didn’t,” Chris said, his voice a careful neutral that meant he was either fascinated by the idea of what Jared had done or he was horrified.  As the only fae among his friends, he alone understood the depth of the fae bond.   
  
“I did,” Jared stood as he said it, setting his glass down and getting out of his chair to stretch – and put a little more distance between himself and the fae in case Chris took the warding badly.  
  
The others weren’t quite sure what it meant, but he watched as Alona looked between them.  “Onxy stones are used for separation and to end relationships,” she said quietly.   
  
Alona had actually dated a fae in college but the demands of medical school were too much for the fae and they had ended nastily by all accounts.  She had spent four years with him though and she knew more about the peculiarities than the other humans did.  
“Did it work?” she asked.  
  
“As Misha said, you don’t see my fae-mate, do you?”  
  
“How long have you worn it?” Chris asked.  
  
“It’s been three years,” Jared answered.   
  
“You never once wondered what happened to him, did you?  What did he do to you that was so horrible Jared?” Chris demanded.  
  
He was taken aback by Chris’s words and he felt his face heating up at the accusation.  “You don’t know him Chris and you didn’t know us back then so don’t act like just because he’s fae that he didn’t have it coming.  For all the things he told me, all the great things that becoming his mate meant, he never once said it was permanent.  He never once told me that if I did this I’d never be able to walk away, that I’d feel what he felt inside my head for the rest of my life.  He never said that I would never be able to have my own life and be myself because he was the fucking-”  
  
He caught himself before he said anything else.  No matter who he was with, there were some things that he wasn’t allowed to reveal and as much as he’d been hurt by the fae, he would never betray him at that level.  A whisper of his name and he would be vulnerable to the other creatures that roamed the world and Jared hadn’t even met the worst of them.  
  
“I did this,” Jared said as he raised his arm to show off his bracelet again, “because it was the only way to get him out of my head without doing something permanent when he needed to keep his focus where it was.”  
  
Chris watched him with slowly glowing eyes and Jared closed his own to keep the memories from overcoming him.  He could remember his fae-mate looking at him like that; eyes glowing softly until the passion between them burned so bright it was like staring into the sun and Jared never – ever – flinched away.  He had given his fae-mate everything only to be told where to go and what to do.  When it didn’t line up with that Jared wanted to do with his life, he was told to remember who he was now.  Jared had remembered alright, and the fight had been spectacular.  
  
His fae-mate would never hurt him, had even protected him against the backlash of power that settled around him in his anger, and in the end they had agreed that Jared should finish his schooling and continue to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor.  It was the first of many things that Jared had to fight for and the never ending drain on their relationship was as simple as that.  Jared refused to be nothing more than a human-mate to his fae partner.  He was a person in his own right and somewhere along the way his fae-mate had lost sight of that.   
  
The painful knowledge that he kept buried deep inside, the truth that made the anger burn so dark, was that if his mate came to him even now, Jared would love him and take him back in.  Without the wedding that Jared had begged for and been denied because it was a silly human tradition.  Without the apologies for being demeaned as a human doctor when the fae had other ways to heal themselves.  Without any excuse or demands for an explanation for where he had been the past three years.  
  
“I have been without a mate for three years,” Jared said, looking back at Chris.  “I don’t need your pity and I don’t need you trying to calm my pain.”  
  
Chris looked down instantly, probably not even aware that he’d been glowy-eyed .  Humans couldn’t be healed the same way as the fae, but the fae could calm and redirect emotions in humans with very little effort when they tried.  It was usually forbidden except in a dire situation which was why Chris worked in the ER.  Jared knew Chris had faced a lot of prejudice to become a doctor himself.  He’d found a human girl though, years ago, just a baby when her family had died and he’d taken her in, adopted her and nurtured her until she had grown into a strong woman.  She was a lawyer, advocating the inclusion of fae-human relationships in any form.    Chris loved his daughter senselessly and when she grew older she encouraged him to become a pediatrician.  He was limited to his work in the ER but Jared had noted a growing number of ‘emergencies’ that only Chris was able to handle and the hospital staff all turned a blind eye, knowing that Chris had to see them there because of the remaining anti-fae legislature that bound him there.  
  
Chris opened his mouth to speak but his eyes went up suddenly and they all stared at his stillness.  A moment later Jared heard the faint horns and groaned.  “You have got to be kidding me!”  
  
Alona’s eyes grew wide, like she understood they were hearing something she couldn’t but Misha, along with Matt who had stayed silent the last portion of the night, looked between them like they were losing their minds.   
  
“This cannot be happening right now,” Jared demanded just as the walls of his house grew with vines.  It’d been two years since the last had died away and he’d been able to repaint the place.  He just hoped the summons of the fae court didn’t leave any stragglers behind when it went back to the Otherworld.  Grass grew under his feet and Jared began kicking off his shoes before he looked at the others.  Chris was already barefooted and he’d managed to lose his shirt as well.   
  
“Get your shoes off,” Jared yelled at the others.  “The fae don’t like it when you have shoes on in the middle of the court.”  
  
Alona jabbed Matt in the ribs before he could protest and they all set about taking off their shoes. He could see the way Misha looked at Chris as he disrobed.  “Not your clothes, Misha.  Chris has to be more-”  
  
“fae,” Chris finished.  Jared wasn’t sure if he still wore the pants he’d worn into the party because of the streaks of moss that covered the lower half of his body.  His long hair was adorned with small white moss campion flowers that cascaded down his back to cover the thick, leathery wings he had unfurled for the summons.   
  
Jared pulled his own shirt over his head; no matter that he no longer wanted to have a connection to the fae world.  He would not bring down the anger of the fae by denying that he had made the bonds that he had.   
  
As the room became bathed in the soft warm light of the grand halls, the green lines that had been etched by his fae-mate began to appear along his arms and chest.  He heard the others gasp at the designs on his body but it was Chris’s eyes that held the most surprise.  He understood what the markings meant and he knew then what exactly Jared was.  
  
“Kane,” a voice spoke and the rest of the room seemed to shimmer around them.  Where the walls had once been they were suddenly surrounded by a spring forest in midmorning.  Jared couldn’t yet see the fae on the dais at the end of the corridor of trees but he knew the voice well enough.  He barely contained his surprise at the way the other fae was addressed though.  He knew stories of Kane the warrior.  He could see the way Chris seemed to puff up slightly at his real name.  Jared might be an idiot for not understanding what his last name signified but Jared forgot about it when her voice began again.   
  
“It has been too long since we have seen your light in our halls, Kane.  When you left the battle to become a healer we were not as understanding as we should have been.  Your daughter has become a boon to those of our kind who seek to live among the humans and we owe you a debt of gratitude for that.”  
  
Jared could see the way Chris’s eyes changed, the way the pupils began to spiral with emotion.  No matter how he felt about the other fae, he was grateful to them for his friend’s sake.  Jared knew the fae and he knew what being cut off from them must have been like for Chris.   
“My queen,” Chris whispered softly, “I followed as my heart led.  I am but grateful to feel your presence once again.”  
  
“Do not fear your home, Kane.  We are not the only ones to have a change of heart.  It doesn’t happen often, but we have been persuaded often lately to amend our ways when it comes to human kind.”  
  
Kane bowed his head and Jared turned to look at his friends.  Alona must have known something of the fae ways because she had the others kneeling.  They were staring up at the fae Queen which was considered uncouth for those not part of the court or who had not been addressed by the Queen, but Jared didn’t figure they would be held responsible for those slights.  Jared kept his eyes lowered though and he tried to do right by his fae-mate even if he was no longer in his life.  
  
“Jared Padalecki, you are welcome to my sight though my vision has too often been poor when I have seen you.”  
  
Jared was surprised by the address, though he looked up at her as he spoke.  Titania was as beautiful as the spring itself and he felt himself breathing easier just from her visage.  The weight of his bond seemed small when she was with him and the troubles of the mortal world –the troubles of living between the mortal world and the Otherworld – were insignificant.  There was a magic in her presence that was not conscious on her part but that preceded her into the minds and thoughts of others.   
  
“You have blessed me, Mother,” he said quietly.  He heard the gasp around him from the fairy court that were there to witness this exchange but he would do no less than give her the title she had given him.  It was her lips who had kissed his brow and sealed his bond with his mate and it was her son who had stolen his heart.  “I had not thought to stand before you again.”  
  
“No, I suppose you wouldn’t.  You have something of mine though and I want it back.  Give my son to me.”  
  
Jared jolted at her words, fear streaking through him in ways he would never have perceived.  “I do not have your son, Mother,” he said quickly.  “It has been four years since I saw him last, three since I was able to feel him through our bond.”  
  
“And yet you have his bond still.  While he loves you he will suffer no other to calm and comfort him.   While he loves you he will remain manic and miserable.”  
  
Jared closed his eyes as her words worked magic and unfolded the scene before him.  He thought of Chris’s accusation and wondered if the fae had meant more than Jared had realized.  “I have no claim for his love.  It was obvious enough that he loved his station more than he loved me and I have done my best to live up to the courts expectations and let him have his place among his people.”  
  
Titania laughed and it was the sprinkling of chimes in the air.  “Is that what you think, human child?”  
  
Her laughter brought out the anger in him, the way she could make his pain seem so small when it had felt like his world was collapsing when his mate had left.  She had no right to belittle him or the sacrifice he’d unknowingly made.  The prince had needed a mate and Jared had given him that, even if he hadn’t understood the real motivation behind it.  The prince wanted to change the fae, to make them more like Chris, able to understand humans so that they could move around in the world again, unafraid.  Jared had loved the prince but he’d never realized that the prince’s love was easily pushed aside for his ambitions.  
  
He stood then, no longer caring if he was embarrassing his mate or not.  “You have no right to laugh at my pain,” he declared.  “You have no right to invade my home and frighten my guests.  I am not fae and you have no right over me.”  
  
Titania’s eyes turned cold as she stood from her throne.  “You hold my child captive and tell me I have no rights?  You have three weeks to undo what you have done, human child.  In three weeks I will have my son back, or I will have your bond broken.”  
  
“There is only one way to break the bond,” Jared said.  
  
Titania smiled.  “I will have my son, or I will have your head.”  
  
The queen moved closer to him and before he could react she placed a soft kiss on his forehead.  The room spun and there was no more court and there were no more fae in his living room.  There were, however, a lot of vines left on his wall.  
  
“Son of a bitch,” Jared said, catching himself on one of the flowering vines.   
  
“Jared, what the hell?” Chris asked.   
  
Jared looked at him but he was back to himself again, just a guy in a pair of jeans and nothing else.  There was something off on the lighting though and that was when Jared realized he was in real trouble.  He was still glowing.   
  
“What the hell was that about?” Misha asked as he and the others stepped closer.  Alona moved close enough to touch and after a moment’s hesitation she reached out to touch the green veins running over his body.  
  
“When were you going to tell me?” Chris demanded.   
  
“When were you, Kane?”  
  
Kane, the greatest warrior known to the fae kingdom.  Jared had been fed plenty of fae history and now he found out that one of his best friends was part of that?  
  
Chris had the grace to look embarrassed about that at least.  “You knew I made a new life for myself, that I changed professions.”  
  
“Yeah, well you knew I was fae-mated.”  
  
“There’s a big difference Jared.  You aren’t just fae-mated.”  
  
“Yes, I am.”  
  
“No, you are the Prince Consort, mated to the fae-Prince.  You are royalty and the only human to ever gain entrance into the Sidhe.”  
  
Jared was surprised when the anger rose in Chris’s voice and he grabbed Jared’s wrist, holding up the onyx bracelet.  “You are the only creature in all of existence that can find the fae-Prince and you muffle the one thing that will lead you to him!  Have you no idea what has been happening in the Sidhe?”  
  
Jared pulled his hand away, surprised as he watched the passion of his anger turn Chris back to his fae form again.  “I muffled the bond until I couldn’t feel him any longer.  Why would I keep up with the happenings of a world I don’t want to be involved in?”  
  
“Because you drove him mad!” Chris yelled.  “The Prince went mad and he left the fae.  No one can find him and it is only the bond of mother-child that allows us to know that he lives still.  He is not safe though and he is in harms way.  He has forsaken the realm and will not return.  He began growing mad four years ago, speaking of things that no one could understand,” he said, answering a question Jared hadn’t yet been able to ask.  “Three years ago he disappeared.  No one knows if he left of his own volition or if his madness left him open to suggestion but there has been no peace in the realm without him.  Even I, restricted as I was, knew this.”  
  
Jared took a step back, his heart racing at the idea of it.  It was just a coincidence.  This wasn’t because of what he’d done.  His mate had been too strong to fall to madness.  He hadn’t loved Jared enough to do that.  
  
“What are you going to do?” Alona asked as she looked up at him.  
  
Jared sighed as he looked down at the onyx band around his wrist.  He looked past that to see the swirling designs on his skin, glowing green even in his living room since the fae-Queen’s kiss.  He could remember clear enough the night he received them, the night his lover had painted them on carefully with the touch of his fingers and followed each path with his tongue.  He remembered their lovemaking and the dance of willows over his head as they whispered the words of binding into the wind.  He remembered waking and feeling his mate in the back of his head, feeling the love that swam between them.   
  
In time, Jared convinced himself that it had been his own love, echoed back on him, but what if it hadn’t been so?  What if there was something more to his mate and what he’d been doing?  What if his secrets had been to protect him, as he’d always claimed?  What if he’d meant it when he said he loved Jared too much to see him hurt, and if it meant he had to live without him, then so be it?  
  
There had been years of love between them before the fae-Prince had asked to be his mate and there had been years of happiness in that bond, but time had worn them both down and what had once given him joy had robbed him of it as the days passed.  He looked down at the bracelet and thought of jade green eyes, filled with madness instead of the anger he’d come to know or the joy he’d once seen.   
  
When he looked up, it was to Kane the warrior that he spoke, to the fae that would know his words for the promise that they were.  “I will do what I have to.  Not for the Queen’s threat, but to find out the truth.  It’s time to find the fae-Prince,” he said as he pulled the bracelet from his wrist.  
  
He had only a moment to gasp before he felt darkness pulling at him.  His mate’s mind was in turmoil and after three years he wasn’t able to control it as he had once learned to do.  It was agony, torture and pain in ways that Jared had never felt before, made worse because it wasn’t his own.  
  
“Jensen,” he cried softly as he fell to the ground, “what have I done?”

 

 

 

 

 

  
When he woke, the room around him spun and he closed his eyes, groaning against the pain that seemed to echo all over his body.

“Jared?”

He ignored the voice easily.  It wasn’t as loud as the pain and confusion that rolled around inside his head.  He took a few deep breaths and had to remind himself about the focusing techniques he’d learned when he’d first been bound to the prince.  He wasn’t sure how long it took, but the pain became more than just the override sensation.  As he focused he was able to perceive it all better and then to shut it out.

The pain began to recede but he couldn’t force it away completely.  The bond had snapped back into place as soon as he’d pulled the bracelet off and until he put it back on, he had to live with it.

“Jared?”

Jared opened his eyes again and found himself gazing into Chris’s slowly spiraling eyes.  He didn’t move for a few minutes but allowed the calm that Chris was projecting to seep into him.  He normally hated having someone else influence his emotions but with everything Jensen was throwing at him now, he needed the help.

“I’m okay.”  His voice was a dry croak and he cleared his throat as he sat up.  Strong hands helped him up and he didn’t fight it.  He had his pride, but he wasn’t stupid enough to refuse help tonight.  Not when he’d just been visited by the Faery Queen and his bond had been reopened.

“Can you feel him now?”

Chris rolled his eyes in a very human fashion – a habit Jensen had picked up as well – and looked over his shoulder at Alona.  “No, he just passed out for no damn reason at all.”

Jared couldn’t help but smile at his friend’s overprotective nature.  “I probably should have prepared a little bit before I took the bracelet off.  A little meditation beforehand might have stopped that from happening.  Sorry,” he said with a sigh.

“You really think a little time out would have helped after three years?”

“No, but I can pretend, right?”  Jared shook his head at Chris’s half smile.  He knew what had to be going through the fae’s mind, but he was giving Jared time.  Only Jared didn’t really have any time.  Titania had given him three weeks to find Jensen and he had no idea where to start.  “He’s hurt Chris,” he said after a few minutes.  “All over.  There’s nothing specific, no focal point to it.  He’s just … hurt.  It’s physical, and I think maybe mentally as well.”

“Really?”

“I don’t know.  I mean, yes he’s physical hurt.  I can’t feel past that yet though.  It was too much and I had to back it all the way back.  I haven’t had to control his emotions like this in three years.  Give me a little while before I try to delve into that again.”

“You can’t really be serious about going back into that?” Matt asked.  “You blacked out.”

“Titania gave me three weeks.  Even If she hadn’t through, if I had known Jensen was missing I’d try to help find him.  Just because things didn’t work out between us doesn’t mean I wish him ill.  He’s hurt and they’re right.  I made him vulnerable by withdrawing the bond.  I have to find him.”

“So how do we get started then?” Matt asked.

“We?” Chris asked Matt.  Jared was surprised to see Alona stand up alongside Matt..

“Yes, we.  We’re Jared’s friends and were not going to stand by while he’s in danger.  We’ll see him through this.”

Chris knew Alona well enough to see the determination in her eyes.  She’s made up her mind and she was going.  At least she’d be able to keep Matt out of trouble.

“This won’t be easy.  We’ll have to cross into Fairie.”

“You can’t take a group of humans into Fairie, Jared.”

“Can’t I?” Jared asked.  “Maybe you don’t think I understand who I am, but there are only a handful of fae who could countermand an order if I make one.  With the Queen’s orders to find Jensen, no one will stop me from bringing my own entourage into the sidhe to keep me safe.”  
“You will take them to the sidhe?”

“I will go to the sidhe and if they want to follow then so be it.  Jensen is on the other side of the mounds.  I feel magic in his pain even if I can’t determine what it is yet.”  He took a deep breath and looked at Alona, Matt, and Misha.  The other two hadn’t spoken and he wasn’t sure what they felt about the experience yet.

“I will make my appearance with the court in the morning,” Jared told them.  “Go home and get some sleep.  Think it over.  There will be danger on the other side.  If you still want to go in the morning, then be here by eight.”

They filed out, Alona leaving last.  She looked back at Jared and Chris.  “You coming Chris?” she asked.

He shook his head and Jared just sighed.  “He’s already made his decision, Alona.  As one of the fae he knows what he’s walking into.”

When she left, the house felt empty.  Vines still clung to the walls in odd places from the visit of the fairie court and Jared would curse the intrusion if he wasn’t so tired.

“I knew him.”

Jared looked back at Chris to find his friend glowing again.  It wasn’t a calming glow, but the truth of his nature showing through the marks of his body.

“The prince and I were childhood friends.  If I hadn’t left the fae to raise my daughter, I’d have met you before you married him.”

“I wish you had,” Jared said with a soft smile.  “It would have been good to have a friend in those days.  Jensen tried his best to teach me the fae way of things, but he was too often called away on court business and I never learned the nuances that were demanded of someone of my station.”

Chris nodded.  “It couldn’t have been easy for him either.”

“What do you mean?” Jared asked.

“He’s the Prince.  For hundreds of years the courts have been hand picking his friends and confidantes.  I can’t imagine the fever that swept through the fae when he announced a human consort.”

“He never said anything about it.”

“No,” Chris said with a fond smile, “he wouldn’t, would he?  He wouldn’t want to burden you with his troubles.  Jensen liked to fight his battles in silence.”

“I wouldn’t know.  I never knew he had battles to fight.”

“Did you really think being the prince of the fae world would have it easy?”

“I don’t know,” Jared said with a sigh.  “I just thought … his mother was the queen and it wasn’t as if Titania was going to step down from the throne.  I assumed he was just helping her.”

“Not quite.  Titania is powerful but Jensen is part of what makes her strong.  Jensen is very popular among the fae.  After the Clan wars, the friendships Jensen built with the other clans allowed her to gain allies there.  He was constantly meeting with the other clans to ensure their good will.”

“He never said anything about it,” Jared said.  “He acted like his work was boring and he never wanted to talk about it.  I thought he just didn’t like it.  He’d talked about the things he might have done if he wasn’t a prince.  I didn’t know what it was like for him except that he didn’t have a choice.”

Chris sighed.  “That sounds like Jensen.  I really do wish I had known you back then Jared.  Jensen might have kept his lips tight but I wouldn’t have.  The boy had more pride than was his fair share and a martyr complex that didn’t help.”

“You think we can find him?” Jared asked softly.  “You really think I can use the bond to locate him like Mother thought I could?”

“Tell me this Jared,” Kane said, looking him over.  “Do you love him?  All that talk about him putting his work before you, was that just talk or did you believe it?  Do you love him?”

“Yeah.  Alright, I admit it.  If he walked in the door right now and said “Honey, I’m home”, I’d take him back easy as that.  I love him so damn much it makes me crazy.  When he started to drift away I did everything I could think of to keep him close but nothing worked.  I would have done anything…  Chris, I would still do anything to have him back.”

Chris nodded then.  “Then we’ll find him Jared.  If you love him that much, we’ll find him.”

 

 

  
  
Jared didn’t get much sleep that night; he tossed and turned for the few hours that he’d given himself to sleep and dreams of Jensen plagued him.  He woke sluggish and disoriented but then Chris was there – Kane he mentally reminded himself once again as he took in the imposing character that was his friend and tried to make sense of the legends he knew of him – handing him coffee as he stared out the kitchen door.  
  
“Did you sleep at all?” Jared asked.  
  
“I don’t need to sleep like you do,” Kane said as he shook his head.  “It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Sidhe.  My time was better spent preparing for faerie.”  He took a sip of the tea he always drunk instead of coffee and sighed.  “Don’t think I don’t know you were preparing for it too.”  
  
Jared sighed.  “It might not have been as long for me, but I’m human even if I am the Prince Consort.  It’s been a while since I had to use the techniques Jensen showed me to prevent the fae from having power over me.”  
  
Kane smiled then.  “It’s natural for you, did you know that?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“You have a natural protection against glamour.  It was one of the reasons I started talking to you when you came into the hospital.  I knew that I’d have to make a conscious effort to have anything more than a miniscule effect on you.  Some people are easily swayed by the fae even when we aren’t trying.  Jensen would have been attracted to that too.”  
  
“He always said I was different than the others.”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“We had an argument the first time I met him.  I went up and talked to him and we talked for hours about anything and everything and we got into an argument.  He was so stunned when he realized what had happened that he gave up the fight.”  
  
Kane laughed.  “You fought with him?  I’d have like to see the look on his face.  Jensen isn’t just fae, he’s the Prince of the Four Tribe Sidhe.  Humans don’t generally even have the ability to speak to him at first sight.  Hell, they had to take the hospital liaison into the Sidhe eight times before he was coherent enough to speak to Jensen.  He’s been working with the fae for near on twenty years now and he still hasn’t figured out how to talk to Titania.”  
  
“She is imposing,” Jared said with a grin.  She hadn’t approved of Jared when they first met and he didn’t think she ever would, but she’d accepted that Jensen had made his choice.  
  
The doorbell rang before Jared could say anything else about his mother-in-law.   Sort of.  He went to the door and found Alona, Misha and Matt at the door.  They were all dressed in jeans and layered shirts with sturdy boots on their feet and backpacks slung over their shoulders or at their feet.  
  
“You look like you’re going camping,” Jared said with a grin as he let them in.  
  
The others seemed nervous but Alona smiled back at him.  “Otherworld is a big place and I figured we’d have a way to travel to find this mate of yours.  Better to have the camping gear than to be missing it when we’re there.  I didn’t know if you had anything so I have some camping gear in my car for you if you need it.”  
  
Jared’s smile grew bigger as he looked back over at Kane.  The fae let out a bark of laughter before he disappeared into the kitchen.  Jared knew where Kane was going and what he was doing and he was grateful for it, even if the others didn’t know what was happening.  It was odd, to feel Kane the way he was.  Jared had already had the bond muted before he met the fae.  With the bond to Jensen reopened, Jared had access to all the gifts and abilities that being the Prince Consort meant to a human.  If he’d had the bond open when he met Kane, he’d have known the fae for the warrior he was.  Now, he was just grateful to have him at his side.  
  
“I think I’ll be fine,” Jared said as he turned his attention back to the others.  “Kane is going out back to prepare the way for us.  Just give him a few minutes and we’ll get started.”  
  
“I thought you were taking us into the Otherworld?” Matt asked.  
  
“I am, but the more protection we have going into the Otherworld the better.  Kane is laying protection over us and a protection that will cover the place where we land,” Jared answered.  
  
“Will we need protection that quickly?” Alona asked.  
  
“I haven’t been in the Otherworld in four years and Kane hasn’t been there in … I don’t know.  Twenty?  I don’t know what the political climate is there currently.  My mate was important to Titania’s powerbase and if he’s been gone for so long, it could mean that the alliances I thought were intact are gone.  We’re going in blind so we’ll have to be prepared for anything.”  
  
“What of the Shadow fae?” Alona asked.  “Do you think they’ll help us?”  
  
Jared stared hard at Alona for a moment.  “The Shadow fae have never been friends of the Terrainial.  They abide by Titania’s power because she is too strong for them to defeat her but the history I’ve been taught is that they have been behind every war that has plagued the fae.  I don’t think the Shadow fae will be of any help to us in finding Titania’s son.”  
  
“We’re ready,” Kane said, walking into the room.  Jared nodded before gesturing the others to follow Kane out into the back yard.  
  
It was a large yard, a place big enough to have barbeques and dogs and long afternoons lying under the trees.  Jared had bought the place thinking how much Jensen would love the place and he had.  Jared couldn’t count the number of hours they’d spent under the willow trees in the back corner or sitting on the deck, looking up at the stars.  Jensen had taught him how to sing to the trees to make them taller and how to care for the flowers and grass so they’d stand proud in the sunlight.  When Jensen left, Jared’s garden had become ordinary and quiet.  He walked out among the plants and let his fingers brush over the trunks of the willows and felt the life that flowed through them.  “I’ll bring him home,” Jared promised softly.  A gently breeze lifted the willow branches until a soft caress of leaves brushed his face.  He smiled at the great trees as he stepped back.  When he turned, the others were watching him; some curious, some cautious, but Kane’s eyes were calculating.  
  
“He taught you their way.”  
  
“He did.  He taught me everything he knew that he thought I would be able to do.  Some things he didn’t too,” Jared said with a small smile.  Jensen had always pushed Jared to learn more about his world and Jared had been fascinated by it.  It wasn’t until later that Jared had begun to push aside the fae to focus on other things.  Jensen had always been a patient teacher though and he’d said Jared had more natural ability than any human he’d seen attempt to learn their magic.  Jared had thought Jensen had been encouraging him but the look in Kane’s eyes made him think maybe he’d actually meant it.  
  
“Where are you going to take us, Jared?” Kane asked.  
  
Jared took a deep breath as he stepped in closer to the others.  He could see the circle Kane had made around them.  It was larger than they needed, but then Jared realized that Kane had given them space to fight if they needed it while still staying in the protective circle.  
  
“Can you bind them to you, Kane?” Jared asked.  
  
“You don’t want them bound to you?”  
  
“I don’t want them bound to me if Jensen’s emotions take control of me.  If we’re bound,” he said for their sake, “and I lose control of Jensen’s emotions I’ll leak it over into them.  If they’re bound to you they won’t have to worry about that.”  
  
Kane nodded, then moved from each one, speaking under his breath as he left a small mark that only Jared could see on their skin.  It wasn’t a binding that was etched into their souls the way Jared’s was, but it would put them under Kane’s protection while they were in the Otherworld and Kane would be able to find them.  
  
“Stay with us.  If you have questions ask, but don’t do anything without talking to us first.  If we get separated Kane will be able to find you, no matter where you are, with this binding so just hold on until we can get to you.  And if anything happens, use my name for protection.  I am the Prince Consort and as such you are here under my authority which comes from Titania herself.  Use it if you have to.”  
  
The others nodded soberly as they looked at him.  Jared let out a deep breath and tried to relax.  His backpack was waiting on the back porch and he took it, pulling off his button up shirt so that he was just wearing his boots, jeans, and white tee shirt.  “Ready?” he asked Kane.  The fae nodded and Jared held his hands out to the others.  He didn’t need to tell them what to do.  They linked hands together, Kane at his right and Alona at his left.  
  
When he exhaled he allowed the bond with his mate to flare, feeling the mass of pain and turmoil that was Jensen’s mind.  It flooded his skin with the same jade colored markings that had shown the night before.  It was clearly visible beneath his white tee shirt and he wanted to be certain that anyone who might find them would see who he was.  
  
When he closed his eyes, he felt Kane leaking magic into the circle and Jared knew it was time.  There was no incantation or ritual Jared had to follow.  Jensen had always said Jared moved through the world on emotion and instinct and that was why he’d understood fae magic so easily.  Emotion and instinct guided his magic and he felt the Otherworld calling to him.  He gave a mental pull and felt the ground beneath him shift.  
  
Jared dropped to one knee, felt Kane still standing beside him with his hand held tight.  Alona was gripping his hand and Jared opened his eyes to see if the others had kept the circle.  They had and as Jared watched, Matt, Misha, and Alona saw the Otherworld for the first time.  
  
“It’s beautiful,” Misha said softly.  “I’ve read about this world and all the dangers of it, but they never did justice to the beauty of the Otherworld.”  
  
Jared slipped his hand from Alona’s before turning to look at Kane.  His friend’s eyes were wide and Jared was sure the warrior knew the importance of their location but when he looked at Jared there were tears on his cheeks.  “I’m home,” he said softly.  
  
Jared pulled Kane into a tight embrace, ignoring the others for a few moments.  “How long?” he asked against Kane’s neck.  
  
“Twenty five years,” he answered back before he stepped away from Jared.  “I found Genny when she was six and I couldn’t leave her behind.  I missed this, I missed coming home, but not as much as I’d have missed my Genny.”  
  
Jared knew the bond between Kane and his human daughter and Jared was grateful again that Titania had ended his exile, no matter the reason for it.  
  
“Jared, where are we?” Matt asked as he looked around them.  
  
Jared let his fingers brush the trees again.  Soon, Titania would get the message that he had returned to the Otherworld.  She’d know he was trying to find her son.  “We’re in the realm of the Terrainial fae.  I can’t control where I enter the Otherworld the way the fae can, but I figured this would give me the best chance to find Jensen.”  
  
“Why this place, Jared?” Kane asked.  
  
“It’s the place that I’m closest to in this world.”  
  
“Is there something wrong with this place?” Alona asked Kane.  
  
“No, but even though I wasn’t here this place echoes with memory.  Puck himself cleansed it of mischief and wrongdoing and each of the tribes blessed this ground for the Queen.  Magic lingers here.  Love lingers here,” Kane said softly.  “This is the clearing where the Prince took his Prince Consort to weave the bonds of their mating.”  
  
“This is where they had sex?” Misha asked.  
  
Jared let out a bark of laughter before he could stop himself.  “Really Misha?  We come to the Otherworld and the first question you have is about sex?”  
  
Misha smiled and Jared could see the others relax slightly.  He realized that the others had been caught up in the wonder of the Otherworld and Misha’s comment had brought them back to themselves.  Jared clapped Misha on the shoulder as he walked past him to the center of the clearing.  
  
“The weaving of the bonds isn’t about sex; it’s about tying together two souls through fae magic.”  
  
“So you’re saying you didn’t have sex here?” Kane smirked.  
  
Jared felt his face flush as brightly as it had the first time someone had commented on being able to feel the consummation of the bond.  “Yes, we did but that wasn’t the point of the night.”  
  
“While Misha and Kane might be fascinated by Jared’s sex life, I’d like to find out what we do next?” Matt said, teasingly.  
  
Jared took a seat in the middle of the clearing and looked up at Kane.  “Ground me?” he asked the fae.  Kane stepped over and Jared watched as the others arranged themselves in a semi-circle around him.  “I need to try to locate Jensen through the bond.  This place is where we were closest and it’s where my portal to the Otherworld always opens.  Kane will ground me here while I see what I can find.”  
  
“What should we do?” Matt asked.  
  
“Just keep an eye out for anything that looks aggressive,” Kane answered.  
  
“Anything?”  
  
Kane laughed.  “Should have been here for the Vine attacks of the Oceanic fae.  Damn seaweed was viscous.”  
  
“You’re kidding, right?” Matt asked before looking at Jared.  “He’s kidding right?”  
  
Jared shook his head.  “Nope.  The stories are legend.”  
  
“Wait, you’re Kane?  That Kane?” Alona asked in awe.  
  
“Um, yeah?”  
  
Jared could see the recognition in her eyes and he knew she’d been taught more about the fae history than he’d originally thought.  “Alright, let’s do this before I lose my nerve.”  
  
“You‘ll be okay?” Matt asked.  “This isn’t going to hurt you is it?”  
  
Jared shrugged as Kane stepped up behind him.  He saw Kane drop his shirt to the forest floor and heard him unfurl his wings above them.  
  
The others gasped at their second sight of Kane in all his glory but Jared was already focused on the markings of his own skin.  When he felt Kane’s hand on the back of his shoulder, Jared knew it was time.  He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, focusing on the green of his skin and the memory of Jensen’s fingers tracing over patches of skin.  
  
Jared could feel it, the press of Jensen’s skin over his, the way Jensen had been breathing heavily into Jared’s neck as he leaned over Jared.  He could feel the weight of his mate’s body as he sank into his body, continuing the path of his weaving as he slowly shifted his hips.  Jared could feel his own heart beating faster as magic coursed into his skin and sunk into his flesh.  When he opened his eyes, he could see Jensen watching him but it wasn’t the Jensen who had whispered words of love into his skin.  There was something wild in his eyes and Jared found himself reaching out to his lover without thought.  
  
“Jensen,” he called to his mate but before he could reach him, Jensen sprang off into the forest.  Jared ran after him but he knew how hard it was to catch Jensen when he was in his element.  The Otherworld was Jensen’s playground and Jared was just a novice to its ways.  He’d never been able to find him when Jensen hid but Jared couldn’t stop.  He ran until his lungs burned and his legs ached with it.  He ran until sweat streamed into his eyes and mingled with the tears that fell with the longing of his heart.  He loved Jensen though so he continued running, continued chasing until he found himself at the sands of a long beach.  He stared across the water and found Jensen walking across it.  
  
“Jared, will you chase me still?” he asked, teasing.  
  
“I can’t walk on water,” Jared reminded him.  “I’m not fae.”  
  
Jensen shook his head.  “You’re more than you think, Jared,” he said, repeating a comment he’d said often in the early days when Jensen had been teaching Jared their ways.  He turned and ran then, over the water and into a bank of clouds that obscured him from Jared’s sight.  
Jared stepped into the water and tried to follow Jensen but he was just sinking.  He didn’t stop.  He felt the water crawling up his skin as he walked deeper, felt it trickle into his ears and bit back a cry at the salt sting in his eyes.  He could see the others watching him, Oceanic fae that watched Jensen’s passing and Jared’s attempt to reach him.  They didn’t help but Jared continued anyway, though his lungs scorched and his movements became clumsy and uncontrolled.  He reached for Jensen, but his mate was too far away to see it, too closed to Jared to feel what was happening to him. He screamed Jensen’s name but only water rushed in to meet his cries.  
  
He gulped air as soon as he found himself face first on the forest floor.  He could hear someone calling his name but it wasn’t Jensen and Jared could barely breathe through his sobs.  Strong hands held him and soft voices murmured comfortingly around him but Jared could still see Jensen running from him and it felt the same as it had all those years ago when Jensen had walked out the door, never to come home again.  
  
“Jensen,” he sobbed quietly until his exhaustion finally gave way to blackness.

 

 

 

 

 

When Jared woke there was a small fire going and he was lying beside it with his head pillowed in Kane’s lap.  Kane’s skin glowed blue and to Jared it felt more calming than anything he’d ever felt.  He knew he could feel more from Kane with the bond open but he hadn’t realized just how much Kane had been held back from helping humans until he felt this.

He struggled to sit up but his body was weak, as if he’d really run the marathon that had happened in his head.

“Jared, stay down, man,” Kane said softly.

Alona was there then, warm hands feeling his forehead and looking him over for signs of injury.

“You’re a good doctor,” he whispered.

She gave him a tight lipped smile.  “Too bad you need a fae and not a doctor around here.  Kane seemed to have you under control though.  We were scared.”

“How long have I been out?” Jared asked.  He didn’t try to get up again, but shifted as Kane moved a little and gave Jared the chance to sit with his head on his thigh and look up at the others.

“An hour,” Misha answered.  “Kane said it was the bond.  Are you okay?”

“Peachy,” Jared said with a sigh.  He started to get up then and found Kane’s hands helping him to sit upright.  “Thanks,” he whispered to the warrior.  Kane just gave him the same tight lipped smile Alona had.  Neither of them liked what they had seen.

“Did you find out anything?”

“I was chasing him,” Jared said, closing his eyes.  “He was running through the forest but I couldn’t catch him.  The forest opened up to a beach though and Jensen was running across the water.  I said I couldn’t walk across the water because I was just human and he said I was more than I think I am.  Then he ran away.  I followed him into the water but …”

“You were drowning,” Misha answered.

Jared nodded but Misha shook his head.  “No, Jared, you were drowning here.  Water was gushing from your mouth and we couldn’t figure out what to do.”

“What did you do?”

“I just let go,” Kane answered.  “Dropping away from you, taking my magic from your connection, made you drop the shadow you were chasing.”

“I think we need to go to the Oceanic fae,” Jared said softly.  “Jensen was running towards them and I think that’s where we need to be.”  
“It could just have been a dream, Jared,” Matt commented.

Alona was the one who answered though.  “No, it wasn’t.  Bondings are rare between humans and fae because of the unexpected nature the magic takes when they two are united.  Jared was killing himself to reach Jensen.  A dream wouldn’t have given the Otherworld that sort of power over him.”

“Alona?” Jared called.  She turned to look at him, giving him a troubled smile.

“We’d … talked about it. Before it ended.  I never got the bond but I knew what it would have meant.”

“I’m sorry,” Jared said but Alona just shrugged.

“Do you think Jensen was running from you, or did he want you to follow?” Alona continued.

“He wanted me to follow.  He stopped on the water to wait for me.”

Alona nodded and Kane clapped him on the shoulder.  “Then we head to the shoreline.    Do you know where the nearest ocean is?”

Jared nodded.  “Jensen made sure I knew where the boundaries were in case I ever needed to be in the Otherworld without him.”

  
“Then we take some food now and head out as soon as we can,” Kane said with a sigh.  “It looks like Jensen is set to lead us on a merry chase.”

 

 

  


 

 

  
Jared let himself be lulled into a calm almost as soon as they started walking and he had to use all his strength to keep from falling victim to the beauty of the Terrainial lands.  He knew how dangerous it could be and yet his time away from the Otherworld had taken away the edge he used to have when he traveled with Jensen.

“Will the Oceanic fae help us find Jensen?” Misha asked as they walked.  “I’ve read that the fae are at odds with one another.”

Jared looked at Kane but the fae just shrugged.  “The Terrainian fae rule the Otherworld because of Titania and the power she wields,” Kane answered.  “They four fae tribes have fought since the beginning of the Sidhe though.  When the four clans came together the wars began almost instantly.  We have always been divided.  It wasn’t until Oberon came that the powers of the clans were united.  When he tamed Puck he gained allegiance with the Shadow fae and the others fell in line.  With Oberon’s death came a power struggle and more wars, but then his mate took control and with her son, she was able to maintain the balance of power.  Titania carefully created alliances with the other tribes.  When Jensen came to us, he was something different,” Kane said and Jared thought there was awe in the fae’s voice.

“What is he like?” Alona asked.

“Jensen?  He wasn’t like any other fae I’d met,” Kane answered.  “We were all handpicked from the four tribes to be his companions.  The Royals of the tribes wanted to ensure close ties to the house of Oberon so they hoped that one of their own would be mated to the Prince.  Jensen could see through the lies and politics the others threw at him though and he didn’t let the others use him.  He didn’t build alliances like others did though.  Jensen gained friends.  The people that surrounded him did it for love of him, not because of what they could get them to do for them.  The other tribes thought they could stop him though and it resulted in the last tribal war.  They call it the Final Clan War, but to the people who fought in it, we called in the Prince’s War.  The other three clans were determined to end Titania’s rule and they meant to do it by killing Prince Jensen.”

“That’s not how he tells it,” Jared said softly as he listened to the fae.

“He wouldn’t,” Kane said.  “In the end, there were a handful of us at his side, determined to keep him safe and we stormed into the opposing camps.  The Oceanic fae were almost decimated by the war and when Jensen offered them truce the agreed but it was bitter.  They will have little love for our quest but I may be able to help.”

“You think they’ll keep the old alliance, even though you were at Jensen’s side?” Jared asked.  He knew the politics of the tribes but he wasn’t fae and he didn’t understand the workings of it like Kane did.

“The Oceanic have always kept peace with the Tempests.  Even with my aid to Jensen they have held us in high regard.  I was able to travel among them freely after the Prince’s War.  ”

“He said you were a great fae and that if it weren’t for your loyalty to him, you’d have been part of the Royals,” Jared said as they kept walking.  Jensen hadn’t talked about all of the fae who’d been with him in those days, but Kane was one he remembered fondly and it pained him that his mother had exiled the warrior because of his love of a human child.  “You were his best friend and he grieved for your exile from the Otherworld.”

Kane gave him a small smile then.  “He was a good fae.  I hope you can all see that for yourself someday.”

Jared didn’t answer the murmur of agreement the others gave.  He knew Kane’s words were meant for him.  No matter what Jared found at the end of the journey, he didn’t think Jensen would be happy to see him.  It had been too long since he’d felt welcomed by his mate.  He would find him and see him safely home to Titania but Jared doubted this would end in the happily ever after Kane seemed to be suddenly rooting for.

“You fought with the other clans against the Unseelie then?” Misha asked.

The forest air around them was tense and Jared kept his eyes moving, hoping to find the source of the discomfort.

“Jared?” Kane asked as they walked.

“The trees, the air is tense.  You feel it?”

“The air yes, but I’m not Terrainial.  Can you sense anything?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure what.  Something is coming but the forest doesn’t consider it a threat.  Its waiting though, tense because we’re here at the same time as whatever it is that is coming.”

“That can’t be good,” Matt said as he looked around them.

Kane stopped walking as they entered a clearing and Jared looked to the fae for instructions.  “All of you circle in behind me,” Kane said, coming to stand at the front of the clearing.  “Jared, you want to take point?”

Jared just nodded.  He knew Kane was hoping to avoid fighting by using Jared’s name and the Queen’s mission but he didn’t know what would happen.  He’d never been around many fae without Jensen and his interactions with Jensen had kept him sheltered from the realities of fae maneuverings.  If it was a Terrainial fae then they would be safe but the tension around them made him think it was something else.  
“Well, well, well, look what we have here.”

Jared watched a fae come into the clearing, a wide smile on his eyes as he unfurled a set of large black wings.  The edges trailed with smoky red markings that marked him clearly enough for Jared’s eyes.  “Shadow fae, you are well met,” Jared called out.

The fae smiled.  “Prince Consort, as are you.  I had expected a Royal entourage to be keeping step with your paces but you travel in odd company.  Four humans and a newly returned exile?  There is a story in this, I’m certain of it.”

“Leave it alone, Trickster,” Kane said loudly.

Jared recognized the name and he stared back at the Shadow fae.  The fae bowed to Kane.

“It has been too long, Kane.  We haven’t met since the Queen granted pardon to the warriors of the fallen tribes.  You were gracious even while your Queen humiliated us.”

“Your loss humiliated you, Shadow.  You did not need my Queen’s words for that.”

There was a playful tone in Kane’s words though and as the Trickster came closer Kane stepped forward and clasped forearms with him.

“An old soldier never counts wins or losses, Kane,” the fae said.  “He simply looks for his next meal.”

“In that, at least, we are agreed,” Kane said, turning then to face the others.  “May I introduce you to Richard, Trickster of the Shadow fae and a warrior of some esteem.  These are humans who have followed the Prince Consort into the Otherworld and they are my friends,” Kane said as he nodded to them.  “Misha, Matt, and Alona.”

The fae bowed to them and then turned an eye to Jared.  “Your Highness,” he said as he bowed to Jared.  “We have not heard of your entry into the Otherworld or I’m certain the Shadow fae would have made themselves available to you.”

Jared nodded.  He didn’t trust the Shadow fae.  Jensen had never trusted them and he’d said that there were only a few who had proven themselves honorable.  He’d never given names, but Kane seemed to trust the Trickster and Jared remembered a reputation in arms that was close to Kane’s.  “My visit here is a quest and does not allow the normal formalities of the court.  I have no doubt the Shadow fae would want to make themselves known to me.”

“Where, may I ask, does this quest take you?”

“We have business with the Oceanic,” Kane answered before Jared could find a way to stall his answer.  “What business are you on, wandering through the Terrainial’s territory like this?”

“I am simply wandering,” the Trickster said.  “Here and there, wherever the shadow takes me.  I have traveled over hill and over dale, looking for something worth my time.  This might be that something.”

“Are you asking to come along with us?” Misha asked.

The Trickster turned to stare at Misha and Jared moved between them, trying to keep his friends safe from the other fae’s attention.  
“I’m not asking,” the Trickster said as he stepped closer.  “I see a quest in motion and I feel moved to give aid.  With you is my greatest adversary with whom I have a great deal or respect, and the beloved Prince Consort without his mate.  And I feel sorrow here, sorrow so sweet I can taste it on my tongue like honeyed wine.  Oh, I cannot let this quest go without offering my aid.”

Jared looked at Kane but the fae was watching the others instead.  It took Jared a moment to realize he was checking to see if the Trickster had done anything to the others.  After a moment, Kane turned back to the other fae.  “You are indeed well met then, Trickster.  We are in need of more strength.  Will you walk with us?”

The fae looked at Jared and smiled brightly.  “Oh, I will definitely walk with you.  You are on a quest to find the Prince, are you not?”

“What do you know of it?” Jared demanded.

“I know that he’s gone missing and that before he disappeared there was a question of his sanity.  I know that there are rumors though, of the Unseelie behaving strangely, aggressively with the Seelie, and I believe they are related.”

“You think the Unseelie have something to do with Jensen’s disappearance?” Kane asked.

“I think they haven’t demanded so many audiences with the Queen since before the Clan Wars, when we united against the Unseelie and stood under Oberon’s banner for the first time.”

Jared looked at Kane and the fae nodded.  “If nothing else, Trickster will know more about the current climate than we know.”  
Jared finally nodded but when he looked back, the Trickster was watching him with careful, scheming eyes.

 

 

 

 

They walked through the day and slept in a bower of soft grass and leaves that night.  When it had been time to settle in, Jared had leaned down and spoke to the grass, asking for a place to rest themselves and moments later there was a matt of thick grass and moss that was softer than Jared’s bed back home.  The others had stared at him in wonder and the Trickster had looked him over again.  It was only Kane who seemed unsurprised.

“You didn’t think Jensen would pick a mate who couldn’t hold his own, did you?”

Trickster had shrugged.  “He didn’t seem like much when they were busy parading him around.  I have to admit, I thought our Prince had fallen for a pretty form and a beautiful laugh.”

Kane looked back at Jared and winked.  “Maybe he did.  If so, he got more than he bargained for.”

The Trickster set the fire for them at the middle of their camp and they settled in close, each with their own questions as they thought of the day they’d just had.  No one spoke and it was Kane who broke the silence, singing softly into the flames of lost love and second chances.  Misha leaned closer to the fire and Matt wrapped an arm over Alona’s shoulder, whispering into her ear as she huddled into herself a little.  Jared wanted to ask about the fae that she’d known, that she must have loved if they’d discussed bonding, but he didn’t have the heart to ask with Kane’s song in his head.  Instead, he kept to himself and when sleep came, he hoped for peaceful slumber.

 

 

  


 

 

The next day dawned too bright for Jared.  Again his sleep had been troubled and he knew it was Jensen’s predicament that caused it.  If he’d kept the bond open, he’d have felt it three years ago and would have been able to deal with it then.  Now, all he could do was hope that whatever was haunting Jensen would be easily settled once he was back with his mate.

Once they ate, they continued on again.  The Trickster proved to be amusing, telling tale after tale as they moved through the forest.  Jared wasn’t sure he liked the fae and he knew he didn’t trust him, but he enjoyed the stories nonetheless.  Kane smiled as the day continued on and Jared felt his troubles lessen.  When the afternoon came though, he began to feel his steps bogged down.  They were close to the coast and he didn’t know what would happen when they reached the borders of the Oceanic territories.

“Kane, what will they do?” Jared asked as the two walked at the front of the column.  The Trickster was at the back with Misha while Matt walked with Alona.

“I don’t know.  Jensen never had an easy time with the Oceanic.  They seemed to take his beauty as an affront.”

Jared laughed at that.

“I know.” Kane said with a smile.  “You can imagine how Jensen took it the first time someone actually said it.  The lecture he gave on his prowess in battle, the bedroom, and as a diplomat lasted for days.  He was not beautiful and he did not use it to gain control of other fae.  He was smart and level headed and he made choices based on what was right for everyone involved and that was why people liked him.  Personally, I liked him because he would give a three days lecture on his ability to lead his people and not realize a good majority of the fae watching were busy thinking how beautiful he was in his anger.”

“Was he so unaware of it?” Matt asked as she came up beside them.

“Even I knew he was supposed to be the most beautiful fae in all the Otherworld and I’d never been here before,” Alona said as they walked closer to Jared.

“No, he wasn’t unaware,” Jared said as he watched Kane smile in remembrance of his friend.  “Jensen just liked to think that once he started talking people realized that he made sense.  He didn’t like thinking people followed him because of physical attraction.”

“Did they?”

“No,” Jared said with a sigh.  “They didn’t.  They followed him because he was smart and he wanted the best for the fae.  He didn’t care about the clan lines.  He had friends in every part of the Otherworld and he couldn’t understand why other people believed it was impossible for them all to get along.”

“He seems like a good guy.  Or fae,” Misha said as he stood beside Jared.

“He was.  Is.”

“Then why did you break your bond?”

Jared let out a deep breath “I can’t do this right now Misha.  You want to know the whole story, then you’ll have to wait until after I find Jensen.  I can’t do this right now,” he said as he began to walk faster.

“So Titania was right.”

Jared turned to look at the Trickster.

“She said you were still in love with him, that if anyone could find him it would be you.  I see why now.  No matter how much pain I feel from you, it can’t eclipse the love you have for him.”

Jared didn’t answer, he just began walking again.

 

 

 

 

The first stage of their journey ended close to sunset as they reached the beach shore that was the boundary between the Terrainial and Oceanic fae.  They set up camp close to the water and ate the rations they’d brought from the world along with the food that Kane and Trickster had gathered for them.

Jared was quiet, thinking about Jensen and what the Shadow fae had said.  He knew it was true.  He’d never deluded himself about his feelings for Jensen.  He’d only deluded himself about what Jensen could have felt for him.  Jensen was a great fae and he would be an amazing leader to his people when Titania eventually stepped down, but his bonding to Jared had been political and Jared had just been too unaware to realize it at the time.

“You don’t look like you’re on a quest to find the love of your life,” Alona said as she sat next to him.  “You look like someone whose waiting for the “it’s not you, it’s me” speech.”

Jared let out a small snort at that, smiling tightly for Alona.  “Not too far off the mark,” Jared admitted.  The others were listening but Jared focused on her.  It was too much to tell but he owed them something.  They were risking their lives to help him find Jensen when they’d never known him.  “Jensen and I were together for five years before he brought up the idea of bonding and it was another year before we both agreed to it.  I was twenty four and still in med school.  Jensen started spending more time in the Otherworld and I was caught up in school and internships and Jensen wanted me to be with him more.  We had these epic fights over it,” Jared said as he reached down and grabbed a handful of sand.  He let the grains fall through his fingers into his other hand and kept repeating the motion.  It made it easier to talk about.

“He said I was the Prince Consort and I had responsibilities and duties to perform.  Funny how he never mention that before the bonding.  I did what I could, went when I could, but I couldn’t live in the Otherworld and it became more and more of a problem.  One night, he reminded me that I was the Prince Consort and our bond was the reason so many of the fae were willing to integrate with human society.  We were the reason so much of the fae-human inclusion legislation was passing.  I was stunned because it was the first time I realized that for him our bond has been political.  I reminded him that I was a human doctor and I wasn’t just a trophy on the arm of the Prince.  He’d been so damn apologetic that night after, telling me that wasn’t what I was, but it wasn’t the same after that.  I’d seen through his lies and I knew what I was.  No matter how much I loved him, no matter how important our bond was to him, he didn’t actually love me back.  Eventually, he asked me to live permanently in the Otherworld and I refused.  He left and never came back.  For ten years, I’d loved him and he just walked out.  It took a year to figure out how to mute the bond enough that I couldn’t feel what he was and when I did I jumped at the chance.”

He looked up at Kane then and sighed.  “There isn’t a day I don’t wonder what happened to him or if he even cared that I’d muted the bond.”

“You muted the bond to make him come see you,” Kane answered softly.

“He never did,” Jared replied.  “I waited because I loved him.  There is no making it go away.  I will always love him and no one else will ever hold a candle to what I thought I had.”

The circle was quiet with only the sounds of the flame popping before them and the hushed wash of water over the sands behind them.  Jared wanted to say something light hearted to break the mood but he couldn’t.  He felt too vulnerable to speak again.  Kane was staring at him like he’d never known him and the others were looking away.  The Trickster watched Jared with a strange eye though, as if he were hearing the story for the first time.  He had to have known a good part of it if he was part of Titania’s court but his side of the story had probably never crossed their minds.

“Jared.”

Kane stood and Jared followed him because his tone held an edge of concern and Kane’s eyes were directed behind him.  He barely had time to wonder what it could be before he felt something creeping up his leg.  “Vines!” he yelled just as he was knocked off his feet.

He knew the others were in motion but Jared couldn’t see them.  He was being dragged towards the water by a length of seaweed that had crawled out of the water.  Jared cursed himself for lowering his attention as he spoke but instead of berate himself, he turned his memories to Jensen and the lessons he’d learned from the Prince.

He let his mind go blank as he felt the water lapping at his legs.  A second later, he reached one of the vines with his hand and felt it shrink back in pain.  Jared’s hands were glowing green with Jensen’s magic and Jared’s own intuition and he scrambled out of the water to get back to his friends.  He saw other strands of seaweed as he ran and he touched each, causing it to shrink away from his touch and slither back to the water.

When he entered the circle Kane was gone, but the Trickster was fighting the seaweed with a viscous looking blade and both Matt and Alona had long iron knives as well.  They stood in a circle and Jared joined them as Misha stayed safely in the center.

“What the hell is this?” Matt demanded.

“The Oceanic don’t like the Terrainial fae in their territory.  I think they’re trying to warn us off.” Jared answered.

“Or they want to kill us all,” the Trickster said.  As he pointed out, Jared saw the fresh wave of seaweed that was coming towards them and the way the water was rising quickly around them.  The water would reach them before the seaweed and they’d be fighting a losing battle.

“I just want to talk to you!” Jared yelled out across the water.  “I am the Prince Consort, son-bound to Queen Titania and I am on a quest on her behalf.  I want no war with the Oceanic fae.”

Before he could say anything else, water circled his feet and with it came another attack.  He focused his magic again and raised his hands to touch the vines when he was hit on the back of the head.  He heard the Trickster say, “Sorry friend, but that isn’t going to help us,” before he fell into the water and the world went black.

 

 

“He’s waking!”

Jared opened his eyes slowly, the brightness making him cringe before he shielded his eyes.  “Where am I?” he asked before he could see his surroundings.

“Trickster knocked you out,” Misha said as Jared opened his eyes and struggled to sit up.  He looked around and found his friends there with Trickster standing in the background.

“Where is Kane?”

“We don’t know,” Alona answered from behind him.  He turned to her and realized he’d been lying with his head in her lap.  He gave her a small smile but she looked up at the sky instead.  “He was attacked by the vines and he… Jared he flew.”

Jared wanted to give her time to get over the awe of it but he didn’t have the time.  “Yes, he’s a Tempest fae.  Did he get hurt?”

“We don’t know.  He flew off and the seaweed was trying to follow him.  He drew a lot of it off before you came back.”

Jared nodded.  “Now, where are we?”

“We were dragged out into the water.  I don’t think they mean to hurt us though, Jared,” Misha said.  “None of us were hurt in the water and they left us alone with our packs once we were here.”

Jared nodded as he stood up, wincing at his headache.  “And what about you?” Jared asked Trickster.  “Do you have an explanation for why you bashed my head?”

“You were killing the seaweed but it wasn’t doing us any harm.  I didn’t think the fae would appreciate any more death when they were just trying to bring us here.”

“You could have said that,” Jared demanded.  He didn’t like the Trickster.  Jensen hadn’t trusted the Shadow fae and Jared had learned a distrust of them from his mate’s teachings.

“You wouldn’t have believed me, would you?”

“I’d have given you a chance to explain.”

“Really?  You don’t like me.  I can feel it.  That’s fine because I don’t like you either.  Jensen deserved better in a mate than some sniveling human who couldn’t handle the responsibilities of Royalty.  I’m not here for you to like but I am here because Titania wants to find her son and I intend to see that done.”

“Isn’t this an interesting little party?”

Jared spun around and it was the first time he’d really paid any attention to their location.  They were sitting on a sandy bed on an island not far from a river that led out to the ocean.  A fae sat in the water watching them, her skin a blue-green tint that wasn’t seen except in the Otherworld.  Her hair was pale blond and her eyes flashed green as she smiled at Jared.

Jared stepped closer to her, making sure he stood between the fae and his friends.  He wished he had Kane at his back but he had to hope the Tempest fae made it out of harm’s way.

“Who are you?” he asked the Oceanic fae.

“They call me Adrienne.  You are the Prince Consort and with you is the Shadow Trickster.  The others I do not know but I would be grateful to make their acquaintance.”

“You attacked us without cause and brought us here against our will.  I find it unlikely that you want to be friends,” Jared responded.

“We felt the Terrainial magic on the shores and went to see who was at our borders.  The vines were sent to bring us to your attention, they weren’t meant to harm you.  You took our introduction as an attack though and you were injuring the vines.  They defended themselves as any creature would.  I am sorry that you mistook our purpose.”

“We had another friend.  Have you seen him?” Jared asked.

“The Tempest?  We do not know where he went.  He was able to evade the seaweed vines and we lost sight of him in the night sky.  Kane is a skilled warrior and is beyond our ability to detain.  We wanted to understand your place here though.”

“As I said on the beach, I am here on a quest and I need your aid.  I am looking for Prince Jensen.  He has been missing for some time and in a dream he came to me and showed me the ocean.  I believe he wanted me to come to you for aid.”

Adrienne looked at him and shook her head.  “You have done more injury than you know, with your Terrainial magic.  What aid I have I do not wish to share.”

“We had no fight with you until you attacked us.  We waited on the beach hoping one of you would show yourself.  We defended ourselves against an attack.  For that, you cannot blame us.”

“No, not when the last time your people sent the vines onto the land in peace was when you betrayed the truce and Oceanic vines took Shadow and Terrainial fae both to their deaths,” the Trickster spoke up.  Jared wasn’t sure he wanted the Trickster’s help, but Adrienne seemed to be listening to his words.

“I don’t ask for aid in people or arms.  I just need information,” Jared added.  “My mate has gone missing and I have to find him.  Please, will you help me?”

She seemed to think about it for a few minutes but then she looked up into the sky.  Jared turned to look up with her and watched in awe as the sun was blotted out of the sky by leather wings.  Kane landed between Jared and the Oceanic fae and he was nearly giddy with relief at his friend’s arrival.

“Adrienne, it’s good to see you again,” Kane said.

“You’ve been among humans too long Kane,” she said with a smile.  “That’s hardly a fae greeting.”

“It does the job nicely,” Kane said before turning to look back at Jared.  “You okay?”

“Yeah, we’re all fine.  We were just trying to convince Adrienne to help us.”

Kane walked over to stand beside Jared then and they both turned their attention to her.  She looked at them all and sighed.  “You are part of their quest then?”

“You have to be wondering what happened to Jensen too?  You were close with him once.  For a while, we all thought you’d be the next Queen.”

She laughed at that, her eyes sparkling as she did.  “Oh, I don’t think any of us were closer to the Prince than you Kane.  If anyone could have won his eye, it would have been you.  Perhaps he would have bound you, had you not gone into exile for the human child.”

“Do not speak of her, Oceanic.”  There was a threat in his voice and the other fae stopped, her face going paler as she watched him for a moment.

“I have often wondered where Jensen went.  He did come here, some years ago.  There was something unnatural to him when he stayed among us.  I asked what I could do to help him, but he refused aid, saying only that he’d buried something in his mind so that no one else could know it.  I tried to convince him to stay with us, but he refused and I have regretted since that day that I did not pursue him then.”

“So, you think this secret was making him act different?” Misha stepped up to ask her.

Adrienne nodded.  “He was very upset by it.  He seemed to think that something dire was happening in the Otherworld but he refused to share what he feared.  I believe whatever secret he held was hurting him.”

“Have you had word from him since then?” Jared asked.

“No, I haven’t.  We have heard nothing for three years.”  She must have seen something on Jared’s face though because she continued.  “I will talk to my people though.  It may be that they’ve heard from him since I have or that someone has seen him and it did not reach my ears.  What I do know is that he intended to find the Tempest fae when he left us.  I don’t know if he reached them or not.”

“Thank you,” Jared said.  “I can’t stay and wait for you to get word from your people though.  I need to get to the Tempest fae without delay.  Can you send word to us if you learn more?”

“I can only find you if one of your party were to stay with me.  I do not know any of you well enough to locate you in the Otherworld without a guide.”

“I’ll do it,” Misha said instantly.

“Misha, you don’t know what might happen.”

“I do, as well as anyone I suppose.  I’ve read about the Otherworld for years.  It’s time I tested what I learned in my books with the real experience.  I want to do this.  You go and find your mate, Jared.  Adrienne will bring me back to you, right?”

He looked at the Oceanic fae and she nodded.  “I will honor your strength and I will return you to your friends when we have learned what we can.  I pledge my word, mortal.  I will not allow hard to befall you while you are in my care.”

Kane nodded.  “Then you’ll be well cared for Misha.” Kane looked at Jared and nodded.  “Adrienne’s word is good Jared.  You don’t need to worry about Misha if he is with her and she will do her best to find any news of Jensen.  We were all together once, two of his handpicked companions from the other tribes.  If anyone can find news it is Adrienne.”

“Alright.”  Jared walked over to Misha and pulled him close for a second.  “Thank you, my friend.”

“Find your mate, Jared.  I have a feeling there is far more to this story than any of us knew.  You might find your happily ever after when all of this is done.”

Jared refused to let himself think like that, afraid to be hurt a second time by his mate, but he appreciated the words anyway.

“Will you help us get back to the mainland now?”

Adrienne nodded.  “Follow the river back to the shore and a boat will be waiting for you.  Trust our vines this time, Prince Consort.  They will speed you back to the land where you can begin the next part of your journey.”

Jared thanked her one last time and the others took a minute to say their goodbyes to Misha before they began the walk back to the beach.  When they were deposited on the other side by the seaweed vines, they stopped to eat a quick lunch before heading back into the wilderness of the Otherworld.  Jensen was still out there and Jared had another lead to follow.  He wasn’t about to wait any longer to find his mate.

  
“Are you sure this is the right way?” Matt asked again.

Jared wanted to smack him on the back of the head to shut him up but it was too much effort and Jared was already tired.  They’d been traveling two days to get to the Tempest fae and they still had more miles to go.

“Yes, I am not fallible like your silly compass.  My knowledge of the Otherworld is unquestionable,” Trickster answered.  There was an edge to his voice and Jared wondered how long it would be before the two turned to blows.  Trickster was leading them as Kane flew above them to find one of his kind to inform them of their arrival.  Or maybe Kane hoped to get help flying them to their homes, high in the rocky cliffs.  Or maybe he just wanted to get away from Matt and Trickster.

“Why hasn’t Chris come back yet?” Matt griped. “I thought he was getting us some help?”

“The Tempest fae have never been large in numbers,” Alona said as she walked behind him.

“Great, another lecture,” Matt grumbled.

Alona did smack Matt on the back of the head then and Jared grinned broadly at her.  “They live spread out among the cliffs and give each other a wide berth.  They are social and get together for large gatherings but between their cloud-feasts they seldom have contact with one another.  A Tempest fae is more likely to have close personal ties to the Oceanic fae than to one of his own, outside of tribal bonds of course.”

“How do you know all this?” Trickster asked.

“Oh,” Alona blushed and looked down at the ground.  “I… I dated a fae for some time.  He taught me what to expect if I should ever come to the Otherworld.”  She tugged at the necklace around her neck, a gesture Jared had seen more than once as they walked though he’d never seen the necklace before.  He guessed it was from her ex, but he didn’t know for sure.

“He taught you well.  Was he Shadow?”

“What?  Of course not,” Jared answered.

“Yes, actually,” Alona said, looking down at the ground.  “I know how most of the fae and humans see them, but he was different.  He was trying to change things.  If you’d known him, you’d have liked him.”

“Except how he hurt you,” Jared reminded her.

“Well, yeah.  That part sucked,” she said with a deprecating laugh.  “But if that were our standard I should have kept you tied up in your apartment instead of letting you come on this quest for your mate.  It’s the right thing to do.”

She looked up at Trickster and smiled before walking over to him and linking her arm through his.  “I always thought the Shadow fae got a bad reputation.”

“It’s not entirely undeserved if we’re being honest,” Trickster said.  “We like to have our secrets and we like our pranks.  And lately there have been more secrets than ever before, clans forming within the tribes and breaking apart as quickly as they come together.  As the Trickster of the Shadow I should be a part of all of it, but I find myself unwelcome there and I am disturbed by it.  I prefer the company of the Court, where Titania holds all to the same rules and where I am able to sit beside an Oceanic or Tempest fae and converse about the news of the day, rather than back in the Sidhe where I must horde my knowledge to best the others.  It is tiresome and I am too old to be playing chess with the child-fae who think to play against me.”

“That sounds lonely.”

“It is, unfortunately, the life of the Shadow.  I enjoyed it in my younger days, but war and battle grow old and I am past the days when it appealed to me.  Now, I would rather see my tribe at peace.”

“You sound like Jeff.”                                                                                                       

“Jeff?”

“My ex.”

“I don’t know of a Shadow fae named Jeff.”

She smiled.  “No, I don’t suppose that’s the name he’d use here.  When he was outside of the Otherworld he picked a name that was more human.”

“A lot of us do,” Kane answered as he came to join them.  “Besides the legacy of war I left behind, I wanted to pick a name that made me seem like a regular mortal.  I could hide my wings well enough and the paths of my tribe only turn blue when the Royals approach.  I could almost pass for human except my eyes and it made it easier for people to forget when I started going by Chris.”

“Has Genny ever been here?” Alona asked.

“Nah, I was exiled when I kept her as my own.  I knew it would be a battle on the human side to adopt her, but I’d never expected the battle from my tribe.  I never expected Titania to respond either.”

“If I understand, it was a hard time for the fae world,” Jared answered.  “The borders of the Otherworld had grown weak and mortals were able to pass easily.  More and more fae were interested in humans and she had no border patrol to keep the two from mingling uncontrollably. She feared the mortals would overrun the Otherworld and that we would come for war if anything happened.  She tried to close the borders because she feared humans would seek retribution against the fae at some point.  You were her strongest warrior and you wanted to stay with a mortal girl.  It took some time before Titania could see that there was no need to fear humanity.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Kane bit back.  “I guess I thought all my years fighting with her son might have given me a little leniency.  Doesn’t matter though.  As much as I missed my home, it’s nothing without my girl.  Someday, I may bring her here.  She’d like the Aerie, I think.  I used to put her to sleep, singing about it.”  He looked over at Trickster then and squared his shoulders.  “What?”

“Nothing,” the trickster said with a smile that was fonder than Jared would have thought possible.  “I never thought to hear of a softer side of Kane.”      

Jared wasn’t sure what was happening with Kane and Trickster but he saw the way Alona was smirking and he knew his friend was working hard to make Trickster and Kane see one another differently.

Jared wasn’t sure it would work, but he knew Alona and she just might be able to make the two into friends.  And if she could do that, maybe she’d be able to work a miracle for Jared?

He pushed the thought aside as he walked, but he couldn’t stop the idea from popping back up from time to time.

  
The day was long as they all walked quietly.  No one dared to speak too loudly for fear of Kane’s mood.  One moment he was smiling and the next he was brooding and casting dark looks on them all.  Jared knew his friend was facing his past; trying to reconcile his feelings of elation at being in the Otherworld again and his bitterness at having been exiled in the first place.

As they settled into the night, Kane called them all together and Jared watched as he called fire into his hands.  It was a trick Jared had never learned, though Jensen said he was more than capable of it.  Faerie lights had been known to send many a human to his death in the old days but it was mostly used by the fae of the Otherworld to keep from being noticed.  It offered heat but the light could be easily covered from outside eyes, unlike real fire.

“You’ve all tied yourselves to this quest with little enough reason too,” he said softly as he held his hands over a small pit that had been dug into the forest floor.  He dropped the fire there and tendrils of flame fell like water over a rocky ravine.  “Trickster has no love of Jensen, though he knows how the Prince effected the politics of the Otherworld and he has come with us to see the Prince returned.  Alona, Matt, you know nothing of the man you’ve risked your lives to come hunt down.  Jared hasn’t given you much of a reason to look for him either, other than the fact that he was going himself.  I knew Jensen though and I was honored and will always be honored to call him friend.  This is the Jensen I knew.”

He held his hands out and the flames responded as he twirled his fingers slightly.  “Before the portals of magic became thin and allowed humankind to find the fae, the Otherworld was divided into four clans; the Terrainial, Tempest, Oceanic and the Shadow.” As he spoke plumes of flame began to move.  He pulled his hands back and the fire had become a map of the Otherworld.  “The Terrainial fae loved the forests and plains, the meadows and the mountains best and their magic grew from that.” The flames mimicked his words and dancing flames acted as the fae, running and laughing through the forests.

“The Tempests loved the high places of the world and the soaring skies and their magic gave them wings to fly above it all.”  More flame fae began to dance over the world and as he continued, the darker placed of the water filled with swimming fae.  “The Oceanic loved the deep places of the world where water spilled and light rarely reached the bottom.  They grew gills and webbing and their magic let them delve into the depths.  The shadow loved the darker places, places of death and destruction.”  The flames swept into themselves, imitating the powerful forces that Kane described.  “They lived in volcanoes and they embraced the roaring arms of the tornado as well as the chaotic rumblings of the earth quaking.  Their power was tied to that chaos and too often turned towards the malevolence that those forces wrought.  Not all the Shadow were consumed by that, but instead of pulling power from the grandeur and sheer force of nature, they feed on the death and destruction.”

 

The flames fell back into their representation of the Otherworld with the flame fae moving about it, forces of nature erupting as they would in reality.  When he began again though, a darkness covered part of the Otherworld.  “In time, a fifth clan came forward.  As the Shadow continued to feed differently, they began to change.  Those that understood the power of nature stayed as they were, the Shadow fae.  Those that didn’t, those that fed off the carnage became grotesque to the eye and spirit but they were powerful fae.  The Terrainial fae joined forces with the Tempest but though they were able to defeat the new force, they weren’t able to destroy them completely.  They became the Unseelie, the cursed ones.  In the war there were terrible losses though and Titania lost her king, Oberon.”

There was silence around the fire as it swept upward to imitate the strong face of the Terrainial king.  He had strong cheekbones and bright eyes that burned to imitate life.  Full lips feel into a crooked smile that made Jared’s heart break slightly.

“I never met Father,” Jared said softly into the night.  “Mother spoke often of him but she would allow no image of him to be shown in her court.  Her grief was still too great, she said.”

Kane nodded.  “Three hundred years cannot dim the power of a fae’s bond of love.  It will be three times three hundred before Titania’s grief will be eased.  The fae love strongly and once they find a mate they do not mate again.”

Jared looked away from the fire, his hands clasped white as he tried to reign in his growing temper.  Kane was pushing and he damn well knew it but Jared had heard plenty of stories from his friend before.  He knew Kane wasn’t done and this was a part of the histories that Jared wasn’t as well versed in.  Instead of blowing up over his insinuations about what Jensen must be feeling, Jared relaxed a hand and motioned his friend on.

“The fae were aghast at the loss.  It was Oberon who had called the other fae together and who had tamed Puck, the Trickster of the Shadow fae, to follow his commands.  It was Oberon who had gained their allegiances in the end and brought the four clans under his crown.   It looked as though it would all fall apart.  The clans began to fight again and war was upon us.  Oberon had seen his future though, some said, and as a token of their obedience, he demanded children from each of the clans to be sent to the Golden Court where Oberon and Titania were raising their own child.  Jensen was never meant to be a pawn in the war but Oberon knew well enough the strength of his son’s convictions and the power he held over people when he spoke.  He knew that Jensen would gain alliances as easily as most fell.”  
The flames flew in circles of activity as the Golden Court welcomed the fae children from the other clans and they were introduced to Jensen.  The image was so real Jared found himself on his knees in front of the fire.  The image of Jensen grew until his face was the only thing remaining.

“He’s beautiful,” Alona whispered from Jared’s side.

“Jensen was our salvation.  When the clans began to go to war again the Shadow fae were stronger than anyone had known.  They struck hard and it was only Jensen’s strength and quick thinking that kept us all alive.  The Shadow Queen called us traitors to our clans, but we stood by Jensen then as we still do now.  I was there, with Adrienne of the Oceanic, Katie of the Terrainial and Jake of the Shadow.  We named ourselves Jensen’s guard and protectors.  When the Shadow Queen attacked, when she convinced and connived and compelled the other fae to war, we stood with Jensen and the Terrainial fae.  Samantha realized it was Jensen himself and not the power he held that pulled us towards him and she pushed through the lines of our camps with the sole purpose of taking him.”

The image of Jensen was swept away and suddenly he was in the center of a battle with the others surrounding him.  Jared watched as Kane fought against two foes all the while his wings had been roped and were tied to the earth.  Adrienne whirled through the camp inducing madness with a siren’s call and the fae Jared took to be Jake threw clumps of boiling lava from his bare hands at the invaders.  Jensen was in the middle of it all, earth detonating around them until the numbers were just too many.  Jensen fell to the ground when magic spun towards him.  Jared yelled out, too caught up to realize he wasn’t the only one, as another source of magic flew at him.  It was a coordinated attack and it worked.  Jensen fell into the vortex and was carried away before the others could get him.

“We tracked him back to their camp with Jake’s knowledge of the Shadow fae and he allowed us to save Jensen.”

Jared let out a small laugh at that.  “Really?  Jensen’s telling is slightly different.”

“How?” Matt asked.

Jared held his hands closer to the fire, barely stopping himself from stroking Jensen’s face as it came to the center again.  He pulled his hands back and shook his head at his own fancy.  It wasn’t Jensen and even if it was, Jensen wouldn’t want his touch after all this time.  
The story in the center of the flames began to change then as Jared remembered the real story.  Jensen was in the middle of the camp, surrounded by the Shadow fae and the allies they’d called together.  They wanted him dead but in a way that would humiliate Titania and her Golden Court.  “Jensen was hidden deep in the Shadow Sidhe but he knew his friends would track him until he was found.  He knew that Kane, Adrienne and Jake would save him.  And they did but though it was Jake who was able to track Jensen, it was Kane that saved Jensen.”  
The flames moved again, showing the entrance of Kane, Adrienne and Jake into the Shadow Sidhe.  Kane was aflame in his power, grace and elegance of motion as he danced into the battle and began slaying Jensen’s tormentors.  Adrienne rushed to Jensen’s side to release him from the bonds that help him as Jake continued to counter the tricks and deceits laid in the Shadow Sidhe.

“Against all odds, three fae stole into the Shadow Sidhe and rescued my beloved,” Jared said softly.  “Jensen said Kane glowed with a blue light that nearly blinded the Shadow who had long ago turned their eyes from the sun and slew them in his glorious wrath.”

Silence filled the camp as the fire showed Jensen free and reunited with his mother in the Terrainial Sidhe.  When he stepped back, Jensen’s face filled the flames again.

“Did he really talk like that?” Alona asked, breaking the silence.

Jared sighed as he looked at the fae prince.  “Sometimes.  When he was in the Otherworld he did.  Sometimes he would forget himself and fall back into it when we were at home or if he was talking about the histories or story-making.  He tried hard to sound more human when he was outside of the Otherworld.  He wanted to be more like us, he said.  More adaptable and agreeable to change.  He said our speech was an example of our mentality.  He loved slang,” Jared said with a small laugh.

“I’ve never heard you speak of him like that before,” Kane said softly.

“How?”

“You called him your beloved.”

Jared looked over the flames at Kane and he felt his face flush.  He didn’t want to talk about his feelings for Jensen but he didn’t feel he could deny his friend right then.  The flames died between them though and Kane looked down, breaking eye contact and Jared felt he could step away again.

“What I want to know is how you did that, human?” Trickster asked.

“Do what?” Alona asked.

“Control the flames as you did.”

“That was Chris,” Matt said, looking between them.  “Right?”

Kane shook his head.  “I started it, but I let go when Jared brought Jensen forward.”

“What?  I never learned to control flames like that,” Jared said.

“You’re a quick study then Jared because you apparently wanted a closer look at your mate and you took the flame from me.  To be honest, I’m not sure I could have stopped you if you I had wanted to.”

“You jest too much, Tempest,” Trickster said.

“Not at all.  The Prince Consort is stronger than I’d realized.  I had heard rumors from the few fae who would speak to me that the human Prince Consort was as strong as a fae but I had not believed them.  Now, I have faith.”

The Shadow Trickster looked at Jared and Kane continued.  “The bond between the Prince and his Consort is stronger than anyone could have believed.  Whispers reached my ear that Titania feared her son’s bond would weaken him and leave both he and his human-mate vulnerable but I see now that it was a mother’s fear and not the truth of the circumstances.”

Jared felt his teeth grinding together and he let out a deep breath before he looked at Alona and Matt.  They were both looking at him oddly and he hated the way they were both watching him now.  “We still have a long way to walk in the morning.  You should get some sleep.”

He turned his back to them all then and found a small patch of clover and white moonflowers at the base of a tree to settle on.  He let out a deep breath and closed his eyes, listening to the small thrum of life that was beneath him.  “Grow softly for me,” he said to the clover as he buried his fingers into the earth along with their roots.  “Shelter me, shelter my friends.  Keep us safe as we find my beloved and bring him back to you.”

Tears fell softly down his face into the clover and Jared wasn’t surprised to feel it growing around him, the press of fresh clover against his cheek wiping away his tears as they ran.  When the darkness of dreams overcame him, he cursed his forgetfulness.  He knew better than as for shelter in a field of moonflower.

He stood in a dark, barren field and felt the singe of heat and the oppression of eyes watching him.  He looked around and found a few small patches of rainflower and red carnations and moved to them, crouching low as he spoke softly to them, asking them to cover him from whatever watched him.  The flowers grew tall around him and Jared took a deep breath, trying to understand why the moonflowers had sent him to this place in his dreams.

“Jared?”  His name was barely whispered before Jared turned and found Jensen beside him, crouched down to hide in the flowers Jared had grown.

“Jensen?”

Jensen looked horrible.  His eyes were dark and sunken in as if he’d had little sleep or food in recent days.  The clothes he wore were barely rags and there were marks of torture and depravation.  His eyes were bright though and he smiled at Jared.

“You came.”

“Jensen, of course I did.  If I’d known you were missing-“

Jensen pressed his fingers to Jared’s lips and stopped his words.  “All is as it was meant to be.”

Jared choked back a sob at just that small touch of Jensen’s and Jensen’s eyes widened.  “My treasured,” he whispered as he pulled Jared into his arms.  Though he looked tired and worn, Jensen’s arms were strong and Jared couldn’t hold back the tears as he felt himself encircled by Jensen.  The bond between them flared at the touch of Jensen’s lips against Jared’s forehead and Jared jerked away, quickly moving to press his lips to Jensen’s.

Jensen held him tight as he opened to Jared.  He sobbed again at the feeling of Jensen against him, his beloved whole and touching him even if it was just a dream.  They were in the Otherworld and there was no such thing as a normal dream.  He couldn’t help but think it might mean something.  It might mean Jensen still cared for him.

“Jared,” Jensen whispered against his lips.  “I cannot stay here.  They come.”

“Who comes, Jensen? Please, let me help you,” Jared begged.

“You are,” Jensen held Jared’s face in his hands and smiled sadly.  “I am so sorry my treasured.  I never meant for this to happen.  I never meant to be such a burden to you.  I wanted to protect you and instead I’ve put you in danger.”

“I’d die for you Jensen,” Jared whispered.

“As would I for you,” Jensen answered, pressing his lips to Jared’s once again.  “Don’t though,” he said, giving Jared a small smile.  “I have many demons in my head Jared.  I couldn’t survive knowing one of them killed you too.”

Jensen looked away from Jared then to the grey skies above them.  The desolation began to creep in again as Jared watched, the edges of the flowers he’d grown turning to ash.

“Jensen,” Jared understood.  “Don’t go.  Please, I love you.  Please don’t leave me again!”

Jensen looked back with tears in his eyes.  “I couldn’t never leave you, mate, but I had to protect you.”

Jensen ran then from the cover of the flowers and Jared sprung up after him only to find himself alone in the early dawn light on a bed of clover and moonflowers.

 

  


“Jared, what the hell is going on?”

Jared stopped where he was and looked at Alona.  Her hands were on her hips, lips in a tight white line as she demanded an answer.  Her chest was heaving though and a second later she was panting slightly at the exertion of the last few hours.  The entire day actually.  Jared had been relentless in pushing them on to try to find the Tempest fae.  He tried to keep his mood from getting to the others but he could tell from Alona’s searching eyes that all he’d done was worry them.

“What do you need Alona?” Jared asked as he dipped his canteen in the river.  He held on, grateful for the coolness of the water as he pulled it out, taking a long pull from it before he dipped it in to fill again.

“I need to know what happened?  When did you become a drill sergeant?  We can’t keep going at this pace.  We need to stop.  Chris said this is a great place to camp out and we need to stop and eat something real tonight, not just what we can eat while we walk.”

Jared looked over at the others, ready to tell Alona just how well everyone was doing but all his eyes told him was just how tired they all were.  Even the fae weren’t used to this much walking.  Kane’s wings were held high but Jared could see the way the tips drooped.  He’d stopped covering them up days before but Jared had never been so aware of them as he was now.  Trickster was used to days in the Court and even Matt who usually made light of a heavy work out was looking wilted.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly.

Alona gave him a small smile.  “What happened Jared?”

Jared looked past her to the others.  “Kane, we’ll stop here to camp tonight.”

The others looked grateful but Kane watched him a few seconds before he turned away and began setting their camp to rights.  
Alona pulled Jared down onto the rocks by the river and Jared let her.  He felt like he owed her something of an explanation, even more than the others.

“I dreamed of Jensen last night,” he said too softly for the others to hear.  “He was a mess.  I don’t know if that’s my worry or if something is really happening to him but I can’t shake the thought that he’s being hurt.  Four years ago he was hurting and closed me out so I let him walk out.  Three years ago I got tired of feeling him and I closed the bond off entirely.  What would have happened if I hadn’t?” he asked her.  “Could I have kept this from happening?  Could I have kept him safe?”

“Jared, don’t do this to yourself.  You did what you had to do.  Jensen walked out on you, not the other way around.  You closed the bond because he walked away and it was the right thing to do.  Maybe he wasn’t in the right mind when it all happened, but Jensen is the fae-prince.  He knows far more about these things than you do and he never warned you about it.  Maybe you could have stopped what happened Jared and maybe not, but Jensen did his own dirty work.  When he walked out on you he had no right to expect you to come charging in to his rescue.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“It never is,” Alona said sadly.  “Especially with the fae.”

Jared looked down at the water suddenly, pushing Alona onto her feet as he stood between her and whatever he could feel in the water.

“Kane!” he shouted the fae’s name and both Kane and Trickster were at his side in a moment with Matt right beside Alona.

Two golden eyes peered out of the water at him and Jared watched as one of the Oceanic fae came towards the rocks.  “Adrienne said you were a pretty thing for a human,” she said softly.

Another set of eyes came out as well and a male erupted from the surface of the water, pulling himself up onto the rock Alona had just been sitting on.

“Maybe, but I don’t have a taste for humans.  They’re too pale.”

The female laughed and Kane and Trickster joined in on the jest.  Jared had heard the Oceanic were known for that sort of joke but he’d never known any of them well enough to find out for himself.

“I am the Prince Consort,” he addressed the two with his head held high and his fingers extended down to the grass, ready to work his magic if need be.   “Son-bound to Titania and on a quest in her name.  Who are you that comes upon this quest?”

He felt like an idiot speaking like that but he knew how to play the part of the Court and he didn’t like being surprised by the fae.  He liked even less that they were probably listening in on the conversation between he and Alona before they showed themselves.

The woman laughed and slipped up onto the rock beside the man.  He answered for the two of them.  “I am Siveran.  This is Savertan, my sister, of the Oceanic fae.  We come with word from Adrienne, friend of your quest.”

“How is Misha?” Alona blurted out, bringing a hand up to her mouth as soon as she did it.  She knew better than to speak to the fae without thinking it through first but Jared could tell she’d had little dealing with them in some time.

The Oceanic fae smiled though and Jared could see they had some dealings with him at least.  “He is well,” Siveran said with a small bow of his head to Alona.  “He sent his greetings, Alona and Matthew.  He also wished to tell you, Prince Consort, that he is in capable hands as you foretold.  He continues his search for news and is waiting to join you again.”

“From Adrienne,” Savertan continued, “we were asked to tell you that none have seen the Prince recently.  If he passed over water he was shrouded so that our eyes could not discern him.”

“Thank you,” Jared said, bowing his head formally to the Oceanic fae.  As the Prince Consort the gesture was extravagant and they knew it but Jared was grateful for word of Misha and Adrienne.  Jared hadn’t known Adrienne before their quest began but he had a face and name to go with the stories of the Oceanic fae who had stayed by Jensen’s side during the war.

“Would you join us at our fires tonight?” Trickster asked, surprising Jared.  The Shadow weren’t known for fraternizing with other fae, but then Jared knew that the Trickster preferred Titania’s court to the Shadowlands.  It shouldn’t surprise him that the fae acted differently than he thought a Shadow fae should.

“We would be grateful for the company if we weren’t already joining another,” the Oceanic brother said.  “We have a while to travel to reach the fires of the Tempest we had planned to meet.  We must take our leave.”

“Wait, can you deliver a message for us?” Kane asked.  “We are traveling to the Aerie and we have need of wings.”

“You honor us Kane, to trust us with your message.  We were rejoiced to find your exile ended and we hope you will join us soon to celebrate.”

Kane smiled.  “I think it’s time the Aerie came back to the beach,” he said.  Jared knew there were a host of issues with that comment but maybe the politics between the Oceanic and the Tempest would align for a night to honor a soldier newly come home.  Jared hoped.  Kane deserved the homecoming after his forced departure from his homeland.

The Oceanic left soon after and Jared took the time to wish up more clover patches for the others to sleep on.  He was careful to keep clear of any dreaming flowers but as he grew wild berries for them to eat, he allowed himself the opportunity to laugh with his friends about the fae myths that were completely off base, starting with the belief that things grown in the Otherworld would link you forever to the Otherworld.  It had been a while since Jared had really laughed and he let himself go as Kane and Trickster discussed the stupidity of counting salt grains and people wearing their clothes inside out.

The morning came with the rush of wings.  Jared opened his eyes to find Kane standing over him as other fae surrounded them.  Trickster was next to Kane as if they were protecting the humans with them.  Jared smiled at it, knowing that Kane’s people were already willing to help them but he appreciated the overprotective nature of the fae.

“Good morning,” he said as he sat up.

Kane looked over his shoulder and smiled.  “Looks like the Tempests have prepared for your visit.  They want us to go with them.  They promised warm baths and fresh clothes as well as plenty of food when we get to the Aerie.”

“Now?” Jared asked.

“Yeah.  Warm breakfast rolls waiting.  Won’t take more than a few minutes of flying to get there.”

“Flying?” Alona asked.  “Really?”

“Yep.  So long as you don’t mind getting up close and personal with a Tempest.”

Alona smiled.  “I think I can manage.”

“Someone going to fly me too?” Trickster asked.

“Someone will take you,” Kane said with a shake of his head.  “They promised to take all of the Prince Consort’s party to the Aerie.”

“Clean up camp and let’s go,” Jared said as he watched the others begin to clear up their bedrolls. Jared simply patted the grassy bed he’d had for the night and stood up.  He took the time to go to the stream and wash his face and then he was back with Kane and the others.

“Ready?”

Kane nodded.  “I’ll take you up while the others finish up their absolutions.”

Jared looked back at his friends and saw that they were well cared for.  “How do we do this?”

“I’m gonna carry you up like Prince Charming,” Kane said with a smile.

“You’re going to hold this over me forever, aren’t you?”

“That time when the Prince Consort had to be carried up to the Aerie in my arms? That will be a classic.”

Jared just shook his head as Kane came closer.  He didn’t say anything but wrapped an arm around the other man’s shoulders as Kane picked him up.

“I feel like a damsel in distress,” Jared teased.  “Good thing you’re a fae or you’d never be able to pick me up.”

“If you weren’t a Sasquatch it would help.  Let’s hope my wings can take the weight.”

“You’re kidding, right?”  Kane just laughed as his wings began working behind him.   

Jared knew it was the magic of the Tempests that gave them flight, not just their wings, but it was still terrifying.  Jared refused to open his eyes and give Kane even more ammunition if he screamed out.  He bit the inside of his lip to keep from saying anything embarrassing.

“Don’t be afraid Jared,” Kane yelled into his ear as they began to rise.  “I won’t let you fall.”

Jared took a deep breath and opened his eyes.  He tightened his grip around Kane’s shoulders but he found he wasn’t afraid.  It was exhilarating to watch the forest floor fall below them.  The sky was opening around him and they were flying high above everything.

The wind whipped around them and Jared grinned into the coming breeze.  Above the trees there were no worries, just the exhilaration of flight.  He understood why the Tempests built their homes so far away from the rest of the land.  He didn’t know how Kane could stand traveling as he did outside of the Otherworld.  If he had a pair of wings he’d never hide them; hell, he’d never close them.

He didn’t know how long they flew, but there was no mistaking the Great Aerie when he saw it.  Poles were hung out around the outer edges of the rim and banners whirled in the wind.  He knew each of the fae had a smaller aerie of their own but this was the place they met in times of need or celebration.  The banners would call them all home to the Royals.

As they flew closer Jared began to make out the cavern entrances in the face of the hollowed out crater that was the Great Aerie.  Fae flew around quickly, circling and dancing in the air with speeds that Jared was certain would make him sick.

When Kane began flying lower, he dropped Jared into one of the smaller caverns instead of taking him to the main clearing.

“Figured you’d want a chance to get cleaned up before meeting with the Tempest Royals.  They’ll have food and clothes sent up.  This cavern has a gathering room that is accessible to the caverns around it.  The others will be taken to those caverns and they’ll be instructed to join you here when they’re ready.”

“What about you?”

Kane looked over his shoulder to the Great Aerie.  “I haven’t seen my family in more than twenty years, Jared.  I’d like to at least say hello to them before we start the official proceedings.”

“Of course, I’m sorry.  I wasn’t thinking.”

Kane smiled.  “You guys clean up and I’ll be here before it’s time to meet the Royals.  I won’t leave you alone to that.”

“Thank you, Chris.”

His friend shook his head.  “That’s the first time you’ve called me that since you found out who I was.”

“When you have your wings out, it’s easier to think of you as Kane,” Jared said.  “For a minute there though, you were just the doctor I work with at the hospital, ready to get home to his family.”

“Yeah, guess I was.”

“Genny would love it here.”

Kane’s smile grew larger.  “Gonna have to bring her once all this is cleared up.  Maybe you can come back with us.”

“Maybe,” Jared said, letting out a deep sigh. “It would be good to return to the Otherworld, from time to time.”

Kane left then and Jared watched him go before he turned back to the cavern to explore.

  
Jared took his time in the warm bath that awaited him, knowing that it was a luxury he wouldn’t get again soon in the Otherworld.  He scrubbed until his skin was red and tried his best to clean the grass and moss from his long hair.  If he didn’t take care of it soon, he’d end up looking like Kane with flowers blossoming around his hair and covering his legs.

When he emerged from the bath he found clean clothes waiting for him. They were fae-cloth but they were warm and durable and though Jared kept his boots, he dressed in the light weight pants and tunic of the fae.  It wasn’t the first time he’d worn fae clothing but he had to close his eyes against the memory of Jensen’s warm fingers lingering over his shoulders as he helped Jared dress.

Someone had found green cloth and he was bathed in the green that tied him to the Terrainial Royals.  Among this many fae Jared found it impossible to keep the paths of bonding from glowing faintly and he found when he thought of Jensen the color grew more intense.

The others joined him in the main room and Jared smiled to see them all in fae finery.  Alona wore a dress in Kane’s blue and Matt was in a darker shade of it.

“Do you think Misha will be alright?” Alona asked as they finished the plate of breakfast rolls that had been sent up to them.

Kane hadn’t come for them yet and Jared was happy enough to let everyone relax for a moment.  He had the feeling that the next few days wouldn’t give them any rest and he wanted to enjoy what time he had with them.  The Otherworld could be a beautiful place, full of exotic creatures and wonderful experiences and he hoped they remembered those things when the rest hit.  Jared didn’t know what had happened to Jensen, but he knew how strong his mate was.  If something had been strong enough to truly drive him insane then it would be a treacherous journey for them.

“I’m sure he will,” Jared said with a small smile.  “I’m sure he’s already charmed the Oceanic fae we met last night.”

Alona nodded. “I guess.  I just wish we hadn’t had to separate.  Nothing I learned about the Otherworld makes separating seem like a good idea.”

“I know.  I wish he were here too but we’ll meet up with him as soon as Adrienne has news.  We wouldn’t have left him there if I thought the Oceanic wouldn’t take care of him.”

The sound of wings interrupted their conversation and Jared looked up to find Kane walking into the cavern.  His wings were a leathery, dark blue and he was bare chested.  The sigils of his tribe adorned his skin and glowed softly in the cavern.  His long hair was no longer held back, but fell in waves to his shoulders where white Campion flowers blossomed around his temples.

“Kane, we were beginning to think we’d get a day off,” Matt joked.

Kane smiled as he sat down on a bench.  None of the chairs had backs and Jared could see how it would make it easier for his winged friend.  “I was telling my family about Genny.  Now that I’m no longer in exile they’re looking forward to meeting her.”

“They didn’t come to see her?” Jared asked.

“My family was afraid that if they did, Titania would see it as a sign of rebellion and exile them as well.  We agreed it would be better for them to stay here.”  Kane rolled his shoulders at that and Jared could see him trying to ease the tension he’d carried for so long.  “The Royals are celebrating the return of a warrior and to welcome the Prince Consort to the Aerie for the first time.”

“How likely are we to get aid from them today?”

“You’re not.  If you want aid they’ll allow you to talk about it tonight, after dinner but not before then.”

“So, we do get the day off at the Aerie?” Alona asked, excitement making her voice higher.  Jared couldn’t help but laugh as her enthusiasm caught him.

Kane smiled.  “You get to be the first humans to attend a gathering of the Tempest.  Come,” he said, standing and holding a hand out to Jared.  “It is time to meet the Aerie.”

  
Jared wasn’t sure what he’d expected but by the time they arrived in the center of the Aerie the sky above them was filled with ribbons and banners.  They moved through the air on the breeze a hundred feet over their heads and Jared wasn’t the only one staring as he was introduced to the Aerie.

The Royals were far less formal than the Terrainials and the Shadow fae and Jared found himself having a good time in spite of the reason for his visit there.  As much as Jared hated it, he found himself thinking of what it would have been like, to be in the Aerie for the first time with Jensen.  Each new bite of exotic food made him wonder if Jensen would have liked it or not and every dance made him ache to be in his mate’s arms.

He found himself walking through an area of hawkers, their wares shown before them to trade as they could.  Jared found a simple jade ring that made him think of Jensen.  His mate would have loved it and Jared had to shake himself to remember that they weren’t together any longer, no matter what anyone else thought.  When Jared tried to return the ring the hawker refused, telling Jared there were some things that were meant to be.  The ring belonged to whomever Jared wished it for and the fae would not relax until Jared put it in his pocket.

By the time the evening meal came to a close, the ring was a heavy weight in Jared’s pocket.  He found himself in a small circle with Kane and the Royals.  Matt was dancing with the fae while Alona laughed in the corner with another group.  The humans had proven to be a large source of entertainment to them and they were enjoying the time to get to know them.

“Something weighs on you, Prince Consort,” the King said softly.  “What aid is it you need?”

Jared looked over at Kane and sighed.  “The Prince has gone missing and I intend to find him.  We had word from the Oceanic fae that he was headed to see you.  I’m hoping he made it here and that you might be able to give me some insight into where he was headed next.”

“The Prince has always been welcome among the Tempests but when he was last here we knew there was something dark disturbing his mind.  We tried to keep him with us when he saw how distraught he was,” the king said.

Jared looked over at Kane but the fae was looking at the others intently.  That Jensen had been there and that he seemed to be in trouble was news to Kane as well.

“He said he had to leave and when we took him from the Aerie he began to flee from something no one else could see.  They tried to follow him, to protect him for the honors he has always shown the Tempests, but the Prince is very clever.  He eluded our fae and no one has been able to find him since.”

“He didn’t say anything about where he was going?” Jared asked.

“No, but we can take you to the grove where he disappeared in the morning if you would like.  Queen Titania herself has spent much time there but she has not been able to discern his movements.”

“I would appreciate that,” Jared said softly.  It wasn’t much longer before he returned to the small cavern and called it a night.  He had trouble sleeping with the thought of Jensen’s troubled escape in his mind and the jade ring pulled heavily on a leather cord around his neck.

Jared woke before first light and realized he wasn’t going to be able to fall back asleep.  Instead, he readied himself for the day and allowed himself to meditate the way Jensen had once shown him.  It allowed him to hone in on the bond more without being overwhelmed by the emotions Jensen was sending off.  As before, pain and confusion colored the bond but Jared was ready this time and he didn’t allow it to pull him under.  He tried to feel for Jensen underneath it all; not the emotion or pain but the soul that was Jensen.  He didn’t know what was happening but Jensen was buried too far under it all for him to get to him just yet.  It was stronger than it had been though, the connection between them and each time Jared dipped into it to try to find his mate he felt stronger for it.  Today he felt an itch between his shoulders, like he was being watched.  He ignored it, knowing he was safe in an aerie with the Tempests.

“Jared?”

When dawn came Kane was there, watching the growing daylight with him.

“We have to find him Kane,” Jared said softly.  “I can’t believe that Titania waited so long that it’s too late.  I can’t believe that the onyx would have kept his pain from me until it was too late.”

“We’ll do what we can Jared.  I don’t know who we’ll find when we get him though.  The fae you describe isn’t the fae I knew.”

Jared let out a small bitter laugh.  “And the fae you speak of is barely a memory for me.”

“Prince Consort,” Jared looked out the front of the aerie to find the king of the Tempest floating outside, his wings working effortlessly to keep him aloft.  “Are you ready for this journey?”

“I am.”

“Be aware that the journey is not long, though I fear the ending will be ardurous for you.  We have often taken Queen Titania there and she has never come away less than drained.  You should be prepared for the worst.”

Jared nodded but he looked to Kane instead of saying anything.  Kane caught Jared’s waist in one hand and Jared let his arm wrap around his friend’s neck.  He felt the momentary rush of flying and for one wild moment he wanted to push away from Kane and try to fly himself but a second later and he was worried about what their location would show him.

No one knew why Titania came back time and time again to that spot.  Jared didn’t believe it was as simple as it being the last place her son had been seen.  He believed there was something else there.  He needed to believe there was something there for him to find.  Two nights ago, Jensen had said everything was as it should be and Jared refused to believe there wasn’t another clue for him here.

It didn’t take long before Kane was taking them lower into a clearing in the forest.  He didn’t set Jared down right away but flew under the canopy a short while as the king led them in.  Behind them, Jared heard the others following and he let out a deep breath, stealing himself against the moment to come.

When they landed Jared felt it immediately, a sickening in his stomach that made him want to shirk away from that place.  “No wonder she kept coming back,” Jared said quietly.  “You don’t feel it, do you?”

He saw the way Kane’s eyes widened and he knew then that Kane felt a little of it at least.  “There is something here,” Kane answered.

The king of the Tempests looked back at them.  “I discern no magic here.”

“You weren’t bound to the Prince in any way,” Kane answered.  “I feel his magic here, faint but powerful.  It feels –“

“Wrong.”  Jared continued.  “Something happened to him.  Kane, Lady bless us all, something happened and I left him alone to it.”

Matt was at his side before anyone else could grab him and Jared just held onto his friend as he let the fear and pain roll over him.  The others were watching him closely but he couldn’t focus on them or their worries.  Instead he focused on the feel of Jensen underneath the rest of it.

He pushed away from Matt and heard his friend cursing but Kane’s presence was there and Alona’s voice telling them all to let him be.  He could feel his mate under the pain and confusion.  Under the darkness was the touch of gentle strength that Jared had always known from his partner and lover.  He let the rest of the world fade away just as Jensen had taught him to when he was first learning about the fae magic.  It wasn’t that the fae were creatures of magic that allowed them to touch the Otherworld.  It wasn’t that humans were innately without magic that they couldn’t touch the Otherworld.  The difference between them, Jensen had taught, was that the fae had learned to listen to the world around them and to touch it while humans were too busy listening to themselves and one another to be bothered with the real world around them.  Jared pulled on that world, on the lines of green that decorated his skin and connected him to his beloved.

When he opened his eyes, Jared could see clearly where Jensen was leading him.

“The tunnel,” he said, lurching forward.

Kane grabbed him as he would have fallen, following Jared’s line of sight as he did so.  “What tunnel?”

That stopped Jared and he looked at Kane before turning to the others.  They all had a look of confusion on their faces.  “The tunnel right there,” Jared said.  “Jensen created it.  I don’t know why or how but he made the tunnel for us to follow him down.”

“Show me,” Kane said.

Jared walked to the tunnel but before he reached the opening of it Kane was walking a step before him.  When he tried to walk forward he was stopped but Jared was able to pass.  It made sense them and Jared let out a slightly hysterical laugh.  “He made it bond-sensitive.  Titania could sense something, just like Kane could, but it was made for me.”

“Jared, are you okay?” Kane asked softly.

Jared nodded.  “He knew I’d come Kane.  He knew no matter what else had happened that I would be the one to come looking for him.”

  
Kane seemed to understand then.  “Let’s go find him then.”

 

 

The slept in the tunnel but it wasn’t until midafternoon that Jared felt the tunnel air begin to heat up.  The tunnel began leading up and Jared and Kane began walking more cautiously, stopping to listen more often for anything that might be trouble.  Kane was at Jared’s side with Matt at the back of their group.  The Trickster stood with Alona in the middle.  
    
They crept slowly out of the tunnel and into a small clearing.  Jared could taste the magic on his tongue and the Trickster began swearing violently behind them.  Kane remained tall, watching and waiting.

“What is this place?” Alona asked at Jared’s back.

“I’ve never been here before but there is magic here, deep magic.  This is a place of power,” Jared whispered.

“Like the grove you brought us to from our world?” Alona asked.

“No, that was a place of love and benediction.  This is different.  This is … darker.”  Jared was afraid to put a name to what he was feeling but when he looked over at Kane a quick glance told him the fae was feeling the same.

“Who dares to disturb the secret places of the Shadow?”

The voice boomed all around them and Jared turned to look at Trickster.

“Run!”  Trickster yelled as he pulled Alona after him.

Jared wanted to stay and call out his title but he felt the zing of magic thrown his way and it was only Kane’s quick reflexes that kept Jared from being singed with fire.

“Damn it!  I just want to talk!” Jared yelled over his shoulder as they ran.  He could feel the power building around him as he began pulling what magic he had towards himself.  He felt the release of power behind him and he dug deep into the roots of the earth and pushed upwards, causing an earth barrier to come up between them and their attackers.  Their magic rebounded off it and Jared continued to run.  
“Get out of here, Kane!” Jared ordered the fae but the warrior turned to look at him with a grin on his face.

“I’m not running away from a fight Jared,” Kane said as a blade of power formed in his hand.  “The Shadow won’t stop so long as we know the location of one of their secret rings.  We need to find a way to get far enough ahead of them to lose them.”

“And ideas?” Jared shouted out to Trickster.

“Plenty, but they mostly involve leaving you behind so I don’t think you want to hear about them,” he yelled.  Even as he said it though, magic flowed from him and back towards the attackers.  Jared felt magic being turned in on itself and he was grateful that Trickster was on their side.  It was wicked magic he was throwing.

“Watch out!”  Matt screamed from the front and Jared barely had time to stop before he could crash into the others.  They were in another clearing that was encircled by Shadow fae with dark paint and masks covering their faces.

“We came only to talk!” Jared yelled out to them.  He knew it wouldn’t matter but he had to try.  He had no intention of dying for Jensen or letting his friends die for a fae they’d never met. 

“Just give me a little room to work,” Kane said quietly to Jared and Jared knew what he meant.  Kane was a warrior of great renown in the Otherworld and he was ready to spring into action at Jared’s need.

He wanted to stop it all, to make everyone realize it was all just a big mistake.  He should never have come this way, should never have bound himself to Jensen in the first place, should never have left him once he did, but before he could think of what to do or say a loud screeching noise filled the forest.  The Shadow fae cringed from the sound even as flames began to spill over them.  They screamed and in the resulting chaos, a figure came forward, pulling Alona with him.  The others ran behind them, trying to keep up with the speed while the stranger maneuvered them through a complex system of traps and physical barriers.

They ran until the screams of the Shadow fae died down and then they ran longer.  When Kane finally relaxed at Jared’s side, Jared decided it was time to stop.

“I don’t know if I should call you friend or not, but your aid was very welcome back there,” he said to the fae.  “Thank you.  Have you a name?”  
The fae pulled back his cloak and Jared was surprised to find an older fae before them.  His hair was black with streaks of grey that gave him a distinguished look that didn’t often appear on the fae.  He looked hard at Jared and Kane and nodded.  “I am known as Morgan.”

“Jeff?”

The fae turned and in that one moment everything about him changed as well.    His hard features gave way to caring eyes and a concerned brow.  “Alona, what are you doing here?”

“I came with Jared.  We’re on a quest.”

“Jared?”

“The Prince Consort,” she seemed to remember who she was with then and shook herself out of her shock.  She straightened her back and crossed her arms over her chest as she looked up at the fae.  “But what I’m doing here is not your concern, Jeff.”

“This is your Jeff?” Trickster asked.

Alona didn’t look at them but Jared found himself stepping closer to her.  He wanted her to know that he was with her, even if she was too busy facing off with her ex to notice.

“Damn it, Alona.  I didn’t teach you enough to survive the Shadowlands,” Morgan said.  “How did you ever get here?”

“I don’t have to tell you.  You’re Shadow fae and your people just attacked me.”

“They attacked the Tempest and Terrainial with you, though I have no doubt they would have held your human friends if they had been alone.  This isn’t safe.  The climate here is so much worse than when we last spoke.”

“Morgan,” Trickster stepped closer to Alona.  “Surely you have nothing to fear from those who chase us.”

The fae finally looked away from Alona and nodded to Trickster.  “It has been some years since you lived with us properly,” Morgan said.

“The Royals have taken offense over the Prince’s bondmate and a riff grows greater between the Shadow and Terrainials.  I don’t know what they’re planning, but the secrets have become deeper and even such as I have been denied the inner council of the Royals.”

“You fear war?”

“I tried to be the voice of reason.  When I realized how poorly things were going I left the other side and came back to the Sidhe.  The dissenters have buried themselves deep though and I no longer know who to count among them.”

“Titania knows of the trouble here,” Trickster informed Morgan.

“No, she doesn’t, not to the full extent.  The Shadow Queen has been meeting with the Unseelie.”

“She wouldn’t,” Kane whispered and Jared felt a moment’s terror before he reined it back in.

“I don’t know what she plans but she has been seen with them.”

“Our quest is all the more important then,” Kane said.

“Why?  What is this quest of yours, Kane?” Morgan demanded.

Kane looked at him and Jared let out a deep breath.  “I am here to find my bondmate.  I’m trying to find Jensen.  He led us to that tunnel and we are trying to find where he disappeared to.”

Morgan looked at the others and nodded.  “That may be the only thing that would stop them.  The Shadow Queen fears that the inclusions of humans in our blood will weaken us.  She has done everything she can to make certain the prince cannot stand before his people and show just how strong he has become since the bonding.”

“Jensen was always powerful.  Has he really gained so much that the Shadow Queen would fear him?”

“His love for the human has made him more powerful that Titania or Oberon ever dreamed.  If he were to stand before the Tribes with his bondmate at his side, no one would dare to cross him.  And to keep it from happening, the Shadow Queen would enlist the help of the Unseelie to keep him hidden.”

“This is so much worse than we thought,” Kane said quietly.

Jared felt himself harden slightly at the Shadow fae’s words.  Jared wanted the words to be true but no matter how much Jared loved Jensen and wanted him back he knew it wasn’t Jensen’s love for him that was making him powerful.  Somehow, his human bond did though.  No matter what else was happening though, Jared had to find Jensen to keep the fae from going to war again.  “Yes, it is.  So we find Jensen and end it now.”

They took shelter that night with Morgan keeping a close eye on their surroundings.  Jared needed to sleep, to try to recharge somehow but he didn’t trust his dreams tonight.  Instead he walked away to find a little peace for himself.  He was settled against a soft mossy tree trunk when he felt Kane approaching him.

“Are you ever gonna tell me what happened between you two?”

“I’m not sure it matters.”  Jared answered.

“Look Jared, you can tell me how political it all was but everyone that talks about Jensen say how much in love he was with his mate.  I knew Jensen and he wasn’t the man that would take a mate for politics.  Tell me what happened.”

Jared shook his head, but Kane was right.  As Jensen’s friend and as Jared’s friend, he deserved some answers.  “I don’t know what he would say but we were happy for a long time.  We met at school.  Crazy as that sounds, Jensen was trying to get to know humanity better and he had a strong enough glamor that he could make everyone see something else.  I never fell for it though and the first time I met him I knew he was a fae.  We passed each other in the halls a few times and when I saw him at a coffee shop a few weeks later I got up the nerve to go talk to him.  He was surprised that I’d seen through his glamour but even more so that I was talking to him after I saw through it.  We talked for a few hours, actually fought about some things, but that was it.  I didn’t want anyone else in my life.  I helped him go buy a phone and he made me put my number in as his first contact.”

“He didn’t have a cell phone?” Kane asked.

Jared shook his head.  “He’d just come from the Otherworld.  He didn’t know much of anything and I helped him.  He started teaching me what he could.  Before I knew it, we were tumbling into bed together.  We were happy.  I know we were.  When he asked me about the bonding, I thought it was amazing.  I was excited to be a part of the Otherworld but even then things started to get odd.  I asked if we could have a human ceremony to celebrate the bonding and he said it didn’t make any sense when we would be blending ourselves.  What was a human’s piece of paper compared to that?  I let it go because I loved him and it was enough for me that we were going to be bonded.  After we were bonded though, things changed.  At first it was amazing.  Jensen was everything I wanted in a partner and lover.  Things began to change slowly though.  He was spending more time in the Otherworld and I was trying to get through my intern hours.  He started asking me to go to the Otherworld more and more.  It began to interfere with my school work and I had to stop going and Jensen got angry.  He started talking about my responsibility towards the fae and how it looked if his human-mate couldn’t make appearances in the Otherworld.  He said that I should remember I was the fae-prince’s mate and nothing could be more important than that.”

“Mother help you both,” Kane said with a shake of his head.

“So I was supposed to forget all my dreams, all my hard work just because I married the prince?”

“He was trying to save the Otherworld from war,” Kane said softly.  “He was trying to show them the strength the two of you had together.”

“And if he’d explained it that way maybe I would have backed down, but he never did!” Jared defended himself.  “If he’d explained the stakes to me I would have been able to make a better decision but he just got mad that I wanted to be a doctor more than I wanted to parade around as his mate.”

“Jared-“

“And when he asked me to move the Otherworld for good I told him I couldn’t do it.  I loved him and I begged him not to walk away but he said he was living in the Otherworld and he couldn’t continue to cross back and forth for me.  If I wanted him I had to move my life to the Otherworld.”

Jared dropped his head to his hands, his elbows resting on his knees.  “I loved him Kane and I would have done almost anything to be with him but I couldn’t just pick up and move and know I couldn’t come back.  I couldn’t be surrounded by fae but having no family of my own.  What else could I have done?”

“He knows-“

“And then he just disappears but leaves a trail that only I can follow?  It makes no sense Kane.  He left me.  Why would he leave me the clues, unless he left me on purpose because of this.”

“What?”

“What if he knew it was coming?  The war, this thing that made him run off?  What if he knew and he left me so that someone would eventually come find me and let me know he was gone?”

“Jared you can’t think like that.”

“I have to.  I’ve been trying so hard not to think about what our relationship was but how else can I now?  He left me but everyone says how much he loved me.  I assumed he left because it was political to begin with.  What if it was more?  What if Jensen knew I was strong enough to help him deal with whatever this is?  He just didn’t intend for me to fall so completely in love with him.”

“Jared, listen man.  You have got to stop.  You’re getting worked up for no reason.  When we find Jensen, he’ll tell us what happened.  We’ll know for sure then.”

Jared nodded.  “He knew I’d come Chris.  He knew and he counted on it, he bet the entirety of the Otherworld on it.  Maybe he loved me once, but he planned our romance just like he planned to run.”  Jared walked the other way before Kane could say anything else.

  
Jared opened his eyes to a scene that would have broken him if Jensen had not already done so.  Jensen stood in a field of broken earth, bound to a cypress tree by lobelia plants whose flowers also covered his mouth, ears and eyes.    Jensen didn’t make a sound but Jared could feel the way Jensen screamed for him.  Mountains filled the back of the landscape and a small streak broke around Jensen’s feet where it scattered off into five tributaries.

Jared tried to reach Jensen but each time he did the rivers rose up against him.  The skies turned to night and lightning threatened to spill down from the skies as thunder rumbled in his ears, hard enough to knock Jared to his knees.  Jared grit his teeth and dig his fingers into the earth, into the very place where the Terrainial got their power but it slipped from his fingers and he had no strength to get his mate.  
He screamed against the dark sky and shuttered awake; the morning sky was still dark but the sun began to lighten the edges as she made her way upwards in the sky.  He let out a deep breath as he tried to recover from the onslaught of his dream but he remained as he was, lying on a soft bed of grass.

“I know what it is you faced,” Jared heard Kane speaking but it wasn’t to him.  He opened his eyes slightly and he could see Kane sitting close to Morgan.  Morgan’s eyes were focused on Alona’s back and Jared wondered at the fate that had befallen his friend.  Alona had always been kind and compassionate but there was a steel to her that people mistook when they first experienced her sympathies.  He wondered if Morgan –her Jeff – had once thought her to be too tame to protest the life he’d wanted her to live.

“What do you know of it, Kane?” Morgan asked.  “You were gone.”

“I wasn’t in the Otherworld but I was here, with her.  I was at the hospital with her when the two of you broke it off.  Probably the only one that didn’t want to kill you outright for hurting her the way you did.”

Morgan let out a bitter laugh.  “You should have.  I hurt her horribly.”

“On purpose?” Kane asked.

Morgan nodded but there was a tightening of his shoulders as Jared watched him that made him think Morgan hadn’t wanted to do it.

“Thought so,” Kane said softly.  “There was a time when we would never have thought to take a human as a mate.  The pull of the Otherworld was just too strong and the dangers too much for a human.  Titania and Oberon spoke clearly of the need for division among us and them.”

“If you remember correctly, they spoke the same of the Unseelie,” Morgan answered.

“They did, and I think Titania learned this time around.  There was no way to keep the humans out and there’s no way to keep the fae in.  It won’t be easy but there will come a time when the Sidhe will hold as many humans as fae.”

“You believe that?”

“I believe that we love as we were made to love.  Jensen loved Jared, no matter who he was or how it worked out.  I wasn’t there but I can only imagine the fight he must have had with Titania over taking a human lover – let alone making Jared his Prince Consort.  Jared has no idea what Jensen must have faced.”

Morgan shook his head.  “The fae would have bent their knee to any lesser fae if he or she kept the Prince happy.  They loved him so.  A human was another matter though.  When he began speaking of bonding the boy it was an uproar.  Jensen never backed down.  He told them all that we were fae, the Listening Ones, creatures that listened above all others to the nature of things.  Love, he said, would not be bound by something as silly as magic.  It was its own law and he would not turn his back on it.  I never understood until…”

Kane clapped him on the back.  “She is an amazing woman.  I don’t know what will happen next.  If we survive we both know you’ll most likely be exiled from the Shadowlands but if you help us get to Jensen I know Titania will allow you to remain with the Terrainials and with the court.  It might not be home, but it is better than exile.  And if we get Jensen home safe, maybe you’ll be able to love where you will.”

Morgan watched Alona sleeping for a moment.  “I still love where I loved.  I had to protect her before she got pulled into the Shadow the way it was dragging me under then.  No matter if we see Jensen home or not, she will never forgive me.  I will love her for all days and she will remember me for harsh words and lies I spoke to keep her safe.”

“She might surprise you Jeff.”  Morgan startled at the use of his human name from Kane’s lips but Kane didn’t stop.  “Alona of all creatures just might.”

When Kane turned to walk away from Morgan he looked straight at Jared.  He knew then that Kane had known he was awake and some of that conversation had been directed at him as well.  He shook his head of the thought and sat up from his bed.

Morgan saw him and offered a water skin which Jared took gratefully.  The good thing about traveling with Morgan and Kane was that they were familiar enough with humans to know they needed to provide things like water instead of assuming they knew how to get them in the Otherworld.  Jared could survive fairly well in the Otherworld on his own because of Jensen’s teachings but the others couldn’t.  It was nice to be allowed to recuperate without having to do that though.

He took a long drink of the water and handed it back, watching as the Shadow fae held the skin down and whispered words to the moss of the stones before a stream of water filled the water skin again.

“You are troubled, Prince Consort,” Jeff said quietly.

Jared sighed as he sat down close to the fae.  Kane joined them a moment later and Jared smiled softly as his friend sat close enough to bump knees.

“Dreams.”

“Are they dreams, or truths you see behind closed lids?”

Jared shook his head.  “I think both.  Some of it is the fear I hold for Jensen but I believe he is actively seeking our bond now.”

“Tell me what you see.”

Jared hesitated but Trickster joined them before he could say anything.  “Jared, the Shadow know many things and we walk our dreams often.  Of the Shadow, Morgan is known to be the best of us.  Even the Royals call to him when they cannot interpret a dream or walk it closely.”

Jared sighed but there was nothing else he could do.  The dreams of Jensen were weighing on him.  He knew Jensen was trying to communicate to him in the last one but there were no words for him to interpret.  “I don’t know if this is all just my imagination or not. My dreams aren’t what they used to be before I bonded but I don’t know if they go as deep as fae dreams.”

“Try,” Morgan said softly.  For a moment, Jared could see why Alona would find him attractive.  His face was lined with concern but he gave Jared the strength to speak.  He told them of his dream but he didn’t start with his last one.  He spoke of all of them since he’d come to the Otherworld.  He didn’t know when Alona and Matt had joined them or at what point the fire had been placed in front of him, to live out the picture in his mind’s eye but the sun was well up by the time he finished.

“This place you see him, I have seen it before,” Morgan said quietly.  “The Shadow Prince was never close to the dream and when his became troubled I was asked to help him.  That place haunted his dreams.”

“You know where it is?” Jared asked.

“Can they be holding Jensen there, as Jared fears?”

“If they are holding Jensen it would be the one place in all of the Otherworld that would contain enough power to hide the Prince’s magic.”

“What is that place?” Matt asked.

“The sundering.”

The Trickster stood quickly and the blue etchings of Kane’s tribal bands glowed deeply in response to some danger.  Jared realized where he’d heard the name before though.  “The sundering?  As is the place Titania and Oberon banished the Unseelie from the Otherworld?”

“Yes,” Morgan answered.  “A place the Shadow hold sacred.  We were freed from the excessed of the Unseelie when Titania and Oberon exiled them and we have long held its location in secret.  Only the Royals now know it.”

“And you.”

“And I would have been killed if I had so much as hinted at my knowledge of its existence.  If we are going to the sundering, we will need the help of the Oceanic.  You saw rivers and what you saw was true.  They will rise against any that come, alerting the Shadow Queen to anyone’s arrival.”

“So she must be a part of this,” Trickster said.

“Or she has been ensnared in some greater magic to blind her to the sundering.”

“Alright, so we call the Oceanic.  We call Adrienne and see if she is willing to help us.”

The reunion with Misha was a quiet one and quick as Jared turned from his friend’s embrace to speak with Adrienne.  He explained their fear and their need and she dove back into the water searching for help.

Alona introduced Misha to Morgan and they sat at their fire, taking a meal as they told him what they’d learned.  Misha had his own stories to tell, of swimming the depths with the fae and their social structure, their need for solitude in the great deeps of the ocean but their desire to remain true to their friends above the water’s surface.

In time,    Siveran and Savertan came to join them on the river banks at Adrienne’s bidding.  Another two males followed soon after and Adrienne came back with a nod to the other fae in their midst.  “Prince Consort, I assumed Kane would bare the weight of you across the waters you seek.  The others will come with us.  Trust us to their safety, Prince Consort.  We will see them to the other side safely, even the Shadow fae who have long been a concern to us.”

“Thank you,” Jared said with a bow of his head.  “You do an honor to your people and by the Prince’s name do I style you all friend of the Terrainial.  If you come into need, I will come.  If there is a boon you could ask of me that I could grant, I would give it.”

It was the most he could do to show Adrienne his gratitude and he had to hope it was enough.  He looked back at the others and the two Shadow fae were watching him closely before Trickster smiled and walked over to the Oceanic.  Alona was led to Savertan and Misha joined Adrienne again.  There was a look that passed between them and Jared felt the small trappings of fear in his gut but he ignored it.  He had to save his mate before he could start warning Misha off of making one.

He looked over at Kane and his friend was still watching the others as they stepped out into the water.  “Are you ready?” Jared asked.  
“I’m ready to see my best friend,” Kane answered as he turned his eyes to Jared.  “I’m afraid to see what has been done to my Prince.”  
Jared nodded.  “Let’s save him.”

Morgan’s memories of the Shadow Prince’s dreams never faltered and he never hesitated as he led them through the watery concourse and towards the sundering.  Jared thought it was anti-climactic when he got his first sight of Jensen.  He was bound as Jared had seen but there were no guards hovering around him or warnings to leave the Prince where he was.

When Kane let him go Jared barely touched ground before he was running to cut the vines that wound around Jensen’s body.  Kane helped him and Jared barely caught his mate before he tumbled to the hard earth.

“I’ve got you Jense,” he said softly, pulling strands of lobelia from his eyes.  When his face was clear of the flowers, Jensen opened his eyes and let out a small sob.  He pulled Jared close and Jared allowed him the embrace.  Part of him wanted to push Jensen away for all the pain he’d caused but he wanted .

“Jared, I knew you were here,” Jensen whispered into his ears.  “They said you weren’t.  They said you were a puppet I made up to play with when I was bored.  They said you were gone and that a dragon had eaten you up.  They said you were only human and you never loved me, but then I knew they lied,” Jensen said, grabbing Jared’s face and looking him in the eye.  “Then I knew they lied,” he said solemnly.

“They lied, of course they did,” Jared answered.  He looked up at Kane, fear coursing through him at Jensen’s ramblings.  This was nothing like the Jensen they both knew.  There was something wild in his eyes that Jared couldn’t recognize.

“We need to get him out of here,” Morgan said as he approached.  “The Shadow Queen will know soon enough that we were here.  We have to get him someplace safe.”

“Hold him, Jared.” Kane said as he looked at Jensen.  “I’ll get you both across the water but the bond will help calm him and if he is this far from his mind there is no letting what he would do if we tried to separate you.”

Jared didn’t answer.  Now that he had Jensen in his arms he wasn’t sure he could let go, even if Jensen tried to drown them all.

Jared watched as Trickster, Adrienne and Kane each encircled their camp in protective magic.  Morgan assured Jared that they’d be safe for the night with Trickster’s magic added to the others but he couldn’t help but feel they were exposed so long as Jensen wasn’t protected by Titania.  In the Glitter Courts he’d be safe and only then.  Jared had to believe that.  Instead of voice his concerns though he walked the edges of magic and added his own.  The thicket of trees that surrounded their camp grew thicker and their branches grew heavy with leaves to disguise their camp from any eyes that might wander by.  Jared dug his fingers into the earth and called upon it to shelter them all and to protect them from those that would harm them.  His magic met other protective magics and he could feel it adding to theirs.  When he looked back at the fae, they were watching him with various stages of surprise.  Only Kane seemed oblivious to what he’d done but Kane was watching over and Jensen and he knew the Tempest had felt everything Jared had done.

“Sleep,” Jared ordered them.  “If you are taking watch, remember secrecy is our best chance at getting your Prince to the Queen now.”

He turned from them and as he drew closer to Kane, Jensen stirred in the warrior’s arms.  He called out to his mate and Jared hurried to calm him.  He pulled Jensen into his embrace but there were too many eyes watching him so he called to the flora around him for privacy.  It didn’t do as he expected, which was an understatement.  He felt sleep claim him as soon as he whispered his plea and his last waking moment was spent glaring at the damn moonflowers.

The dream world looked no different than the clearing they’d just been in.  Jared could feel the rings of protection they’d put around them and in the dream it felt strong enough to keep everything out, even the wild horde.  He felt Jensen stir in his arms and when he looked down it was his Jensen, his mate, with clear eyes and a small smile on his lips.

“You found me Jared.  I knew you could.”

“I’d never leave you to suffer like that Jensen, not if I knew.”

“I know.”

Jensen sat up, pulling from Jared’s arms slightly as he looked Jared over.  “Four years is too long a time to be without your visage.”

Jared smiled at that.  “Four years is apparently long enough to forget all the slang I taught you.”

Jensen laughed softly as he reached a hand out to cup Jared’s cheek.  He knew he should pull away but Jared wanted to be with Jensen, wanted to remember all the ways things had been good with him.  He needed Jensen safe and sane and the bond was always strongest between them when they touched.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through this,” Jensen said, moving close enough to brush his lips across Jared’s cheek.  “I never wanted my obligations as the Prince to ruin your life or put you in danger.”

“Let it go, Jensen,” Jared said.  “Just focus on this, on now.  Focus on healing.  Allow me to help you,” he whispered.  He wasn’t sure Jensen would, if he would understand what Jared was asking for but then Jensen leaned closer, pushing Jared back onto his soft bed and he covered his body completely.

“Would you heal me, Mate?” Jensen asked.  “Would you take my trouble into your own body and spare me the pain of it?”

“I would,” Jared answered softly.  “You know I would.”

Jensen closed his eyes and breathed in Jared’s scent for a moment before he brushed his lips chastely against Jared’s.  Jared moaned at the light contact but then Jensen’s tongue slid between his lips and Jared was opening to him, desperate and hungry.

Jensen responded with the same urgency and demand that Jared had and it wasn’t long before their mating echoed through the dream forest around them.  The bond wasn’t as clear as it should have been and Jared knew Jensen was shielding his mind from Jared.  Whatever mental anguish he suffered he didn’t want Jared to be a part of that.  Jared could feel his body heal though, could feel the way Jensen’s fatigue fell from his body and his muscles strengthened.  The more they touched the stronger his lover became and Jared refused to stop.

When Jensen finally pulled away from his body, Jared pulled him back in close.  Jensen allowed himself to be put on his back and he wrapped his arms around Jared’s shoulders as he dropped his head to rest on Jensen’s chest.

“You have no idea how much I have missed you, my treasured,” Jensen said quietly.

“Your body seemed to,” Jared tried to keep it light but there was a desperation in his tone that belied his words.

The world around them seemed to shimmer as it only could in dreams and Jared found himself back in his bed at home.  The bed he and Jensen had shared before the bond and before his entire life seemed to fall apart.

“Jensen?”

“This is what I missed,” Jensen said softly.  “I miss being able to be honest with you, when it was easy just to love and be loved.”

“What changed?” Jared asked.

“Too much,” Jensen said softly.  “Too many things and my mind isn’t clear enough to remember them.”

“What do you mean?” Jared asked, sitting up on one elbow to watch Jensen.

“Jared, I did something to myself.  I don’t remember. I don’t know why.  I had to take something though, a secret, and I hid it in my head to keep it safe.  My mind can’t contain what it holds though.  I’m breaking, my mind is breaking apart and I can’t think when I’m in the real world.  The dreams make me more stable but I still can’t remember it all.  I … it’s only the here and now, what I feel in the moment that make me sane.  My instincts and my emotions are stable.  Nothing else about me is.”

“I’ll do what I can Jensen,” he promised.

Jensen kissed his lips softly.  “I know you will, treasured.  You have always done more, been more, than I could ever have asked.”

Jared knew the others had felt their mating the next morning as he woke from the dream.  His human friends didn’t know what had happened, but the fae watched him more closely and even Kane seemed wary of him.  Jensen was better, though he didn’t talk much.  He tried at first but then he’d start speaking nonsense and Jensen was aware enough to see the way the others reacted, even if he couldn’t tell what was nonsense and what wasn’t.

After two days of travel they lost their Oceanic friends when they had to turn inland.  Adrienne promised to meet them at the Glittering Courts.  Jared was surprised when Misha stayed with them instead of following the Oceanic after she asked him.  He didn’t doubt Misha’s friendship or his loyalty but he knew his friend’s interest in the fae.

Misha was a grateful addition to their party at that point in the journey.  He was quirky and fascinated by the fae.  He asked questions constantly and both Morgan and Trickster seemed to take his curiosity in stride.  The tales that came from his questions sometimes lasted hours and Jared was able to relax into the tales as he pulled Jensen alongside him.

They’d considered flying with the help of the Tempest fae but Kane had pointed out how vulnerable they would be if they were attacked mid-air and there was no way to hide who he carried if he would even allow them to carry him in his less sane moments.

It would take longer walking but as soon as they arrived in Terrainial lands Jared would be able to send word to the Queen and she would send aid for her son.  Jared had to believe they’d get him home to Titania after they got him free.

It wasn’t without incident.  The second day of flight, Jensen had pushed Jared to the ground just as something flew through the air at him.  It was a brownie, nothing more than a minor minion of the Unseelie but the fact that it was there in the Otherworld at all was a problem.

Jensen’s actions had saved Jared from harm but the brownie had turned a nasty spell loose on Kane and the bottom of his left wing had burnt and shriveled.  Morgan had killed the brownie by throwing back its magic at it when it’d tried to hurt him but the damage had been done.

Kane swore but Trickster said he’d have no permanent damage.  A Tempest’s wings were meant to be used so they continued to grow and regain strength from each new day.  True to his words, Kane’s wing looked better the next morning even if the fae did look like it pained him.  
Each day was a new trial in their journey.  Jensen would sometimes drag them to something that he had to stop and see, taking hours out of their time, but if they tried to pull him away he’d erupt its madness, mistaking his place and demanding to be released from their captivity.  Jared was the only thing that soothed him and he was running on fumes fairly quickly.

Every night as they slept, Jensen pulled Jared into his dreams.  Every day as he woke, Jared had to try to remind himself that Jensen was going to leave him soon and that he needed to be able to pick up the pieces when he did.  He needed some distance between himself and his mate but Jensen didn’t seem capable of giving it just then.  Jared just hoped he’d be able to find the distance when he needed it.

As they crossed into Terrainial territory Jared felt them all relax slightly, though there was little chance the Unseelie would stop chasing them just because they were in Titania’s back yard.  Jared led them then, taking them into the heart of Titania’s realm.  He pressed his fingers to the trees as he passed, sending his message on to the Queen.  He had no hopes of making it to the Glittering Court as he had first hoped.  Jensen’s strength grew and failed at odd intervals and Jared feared he was under attack in some way he couldn’t see.  Instead he begged Titania to find them.

When they arrived at the clearing Jared felt himself sag under the weight of Jensen’s troubles.  His steps were heavy but he’d gotten them where he’d intended.  He didn’t look at the fae to see their faces as they came to the place of his mating but Jensen pressed up against his body, face buried in his neck and Jared just held on for a few minutes, closing his eyes to the others and feeling his mate against him.  
“Jared-“ Jensen’s voice was soft against his skin but Jared didn’t speak.  He pulled Jensen down onto the grass with him, resting his back against a tree as he waited for the Queen.

“Jared, they aren’t far behind, you know that,” Kane said as he stooped down to look at Jared.  One of the warrior’s hand slipped down to rest on Jensen’s cheek for a moment and it said something about the closeness of their friendship that Jensen didn’t pull away from Kane’s touch.

“We can’t run all the way to the Glittering Courts,” Jared answered.  “We’re exhausted.  Titania will find us here and if there is any place in the Otherworld where I can heal Jensen it would be here.  The bond is strongest where it was made.”

Kane watched him for a moment before nodding.  “Alright Jared.”  He looked back at the others.  “We’ll make camp and settle here.”

The camp they made was at the very edge of the clearing as if they feared disrupting the sanctity of the clearing by being there.  Jared mostly focused on Jensen, aware of whispered words and concerned glances sent their way.  Soft hands touched his face and Jared looked up to see Jensen staring at him, momentary lucid.  “You need to take care of yourself Jared,” Jensen whispered.  “You need to eat and sleep.  Mother will be here soon.  The forest echoes in her wake, can’t you feel it?”

Jared could but that didn’t ease his mind.  He had no idea what Titania would do once Jensen was returned to her.  She’d demanded her son or his bond and Jared wasn’t entirely sure that in her anger she wouldn’t still demand his head for what had happened to Jensen.

“You’ll be safe with her soon,” Jared answered carefully.

“Safe here,” Jensen responded by burying his face in Jared’s neck against and wrapped his arms around him.  “It will be good to see her again though.”

Jared let out a little huff at that but he fell asleep with his mate wrapped close in his arms and his friends watching over him.

Jared woke to a stillness in the forest that wasn’t natural.  He opened his eyes in time to watch Titania step into the clearing.  He wanted to stand and welcome her but Jensen was still pressed up against him and he couldn’t rise without dislocating his lover.

Her eyes scanned the clearing and she honed in on Jensen immediately.  She let out a shuttered breath as if she could see his injuries from where she stood, then she advanced upon them.

“Jensen,  my son,” she said gently as she touched his shoulder.

Jensen’s eyes opened and he looked up at his mother.  A smile blossomed on his face and he pulled away from Jared to reach for her.  Titania embraced him and Jared was surprised to see the open display of tears on her face.

“Oh my son,” she whispered.

“Do not cry, Mother,” Jensen said.  “I will mend.  Time and my mate will be certain of that.”

“Jensen, you have to come home and let me care for you,” Titania said, pulling back to look him in the eye.

“There is nothing you can do to help me. I need my mate.”  He looked back to Jared then.  “I need my mate to help me unlock what I have hidden.”

“Jensen, you can’t mean that,” Jared answered.

“There is something in my memories that will not allow me to heal.  I can feel it constantly.  It wants to be freed and I need to know what I did so I can counter it.  Until I can look at what I’ve buried I will get no sleep that is restful and taste no food that is nourishment.  My body grows stronger but only because of the bond and I will not endanger you by draining you to the point of death.”

“Jensen please, let me have a healer look to you,” Titania begged.

“I have been cared for mother.  This is all we need to do now.  Until my mind is my own I will never heal.  I am lucid now, here in this clearing.  I need to do this while I can still guide Jared to my wound.”

“Jensen, you don’t realize,” Titania spoke, her voice bitter.  “He left you.  Jared left you to suffer for four years and he did nothing!”

“He is my mate!” Jensen yelled back at her.  Titania was startled by his vehemence but Jensen didn’t stop there.  “You don’t understand and you won’t so long as you believe he makes me weaker.  Jared is my strength and so long as he breathes I am capable of things you can only dream of, Mother.”

Jared wrapped his fingers around Jensen’s, stunned by the anger in his mate’s voice.  He realized then that this fight had been happening for a long time, only he’d been unaware of it.  Jensen had protected him from Titania’s doubts.  He let out a deep breath and when Jensen looked back at him, he gave him a small smile.

“I will do what I can Jensen, whatever you need me to do,” he reassured him.

Jensen leaned in and kissed him softly.  In the place of their bonding, even the light caress made their markings glow bright and Jared could see the green of it even with his eyes closed.  He smiled and he felt Jensen smiling with him.

“We never were very good at subtle,” Jensen reminded him.

It made Jared laugh aloud and when he opened his eyes it was almost like looking back at the man he had fallen in love with.

 

 

Jared had never been asked to do anything like this.  What Jensen wanted -what he needed - was unheard of.  But then again so was the idea of Jensen shoving something so deep into his mind that his own emotional state was compromised.

Each of the far believed that Jensen would be the one to do it though if it was possible.  Titania didn't share the same faith in Jared's ability to pull the memories from Jensen's head.  She argued that it was her place to find the memories but Jensen refused, telling her that the bond he and Jared shared was too alien, too human for her to comprehend. It was his bond that had enabled him to do this and only his bond that would fix it.

So now Jared was lying on his side, watching as Jensen settled down next to him.  What he was about to do was far too intimate for the number of spectators but Jared didn't have a choice in that.  They needed protection in case something came for them while they worked.

Jensen gave Jared an encouraging smile as he looked into his eyes.  His hand strayed up and cupped Jared's face and it was more than he could bear.  "Kiss me Jensen, like you used to."

Jensen looked sad at the words and his smile was even sadder but he leaned forward and pressed their lips together in a chaste kiss.  "I would do anything for you, my treasured."

He kissed Jared again but he deepened it this time and Jared fell into the kiss. He let go of the world around them and focused on Jensen and the bond.  He knew it was glowing brightly between them and on their skin and the world would be witness to it as well.  He felt Jensen's body pressing against his and felt his own body respond to the heat of his lover's movements.  He trusted Jensen to care for his body then as he felt the trust Jensen had as he handed his mind over to Jared in return.  It was an odd sensation, to be so disconnected from his body but to be so completely connected to someone else.

Jensen had always spoken of how strong they were together but Jared had never understood what he meant.  He understood in the generic sense of being stronger as two individuals joined than as one person separate but that wasn't what his mate meant at all.  
Jared could feel the place inside of Jensen that was his magic.  What was more, he could feel himself inside that magic.  He knew if he could turn his eye inward that he'd see the same in himself.  The bond didn't add their magics together; it increased them exponentially.  Jensen's connection to the world combined with Jared's connection to the people of it created a magic that the fae had never before seen.

Jared turned away from that sense of self that registered so deeply inside his own psyche and began looking for the foreign.  There was a darkness in Jensen's mind and as Jared looked closely he could see the way tendrils of it slithered through Jensen's thoughts and memories.  Jensen's emotions seemed safe because they were momentary and hard to follow, though the tendrils did attempt to corrupt them too.  Jared was almost afraid of why would happen if he touched one of the tendrils but he knew he needed to. Jensen needed to be freed of this secret and it was one that Jared could share with him.

The bond grew in strength and Jared knew that his mate had entered his body.  Streaks of joy and pleasure surrounded him and he almost lost himself in the love that blazed there.  He might have if the darkness didn't try to wriggle a hold on those emotions.  The bond was flaring green and Jared released that light into the heart if the tangled mass.

It pulsed around him, ebbing and flowing and nearly reaching him before the darkness shrunk away from the glory of their mating.  As it opened Jared followed into the center of it, surrounding himself in a memory.  He was aghast at the implications of what Jensen had seen and what he had done.  Four years of struggling with this, three years of torment and imprisonment for Jensen were small prices to pay for what he'd stopped and yet Jared wishes he'd have been able to find some other way.  Something that didn't require the far prince to loose himself and those years of life.

 

Jared had what he'd come for so he pushed away from Jensen's consciousness.  When Jared returned to his body it was with the crash of orgasm.  His eyes opened wide as he stared into the jade eyes of his mate.  Jensen cupped Jared's face in his hand and for the first time in four years he could see his lover looking back at him. Jared hadn't taken the secret from Jensen's mind but he was sharing it now.  It was enough to keep either of them from going insane but it kept the magic safe.

"Jared," Jensen whispered his name and Jared couldn't help but shutter at the way his name sounded on his mate's lips.

"Beloved," he responded before he could stop the words.

"You were not hurt?"

Jared wanted to laugh because he'd been hurt for so long, wanting his mate and desperate to understand why he's left.  He still wasn't completely sure but what he'd experienced in Jensen's head made him realize Jensen's feelings went far deeper than he'd allowed himself to believe.

"I'm fine Jensen," he said softly.  "I came as soon as I knew you needed me."

Jensen nodded as if he'd expected nothing less.  "You understand why I had to leave now?"

"No, but I know it wasn't what I thought.  Someday we'll have time to sort that out but I'm feeling a little exposed right now and my friends are watching."

"Not so worried about my mother walking in on something indecent?"

Jared shook his head, burying it under the crook of Jensen's neck.   "There are a number of other things I'm concerned about in regards to Mother.  Being naked in front of her isn't really a problem.  My friends are human though and they aren't used to seeing me naked."

"Humans?" Jensen pulled from Jared's body and sat up quickly.  It drove home to Jared just how little of what had been happening had registered with Jensen.  Jared saw the moment Jensen's eyes fell on Kane.

"Kane?"

Kane fell to one knee and Jensen rose to his feet, green trails of their bonding flaring brightly.  "I never thought to see you again."  


Kane looked up at Jensen with tears in his eyes.  When Jensen offered an arm to Kane he took it and was pulled from his feet.  Jensen embraced Kane and neither man moved for a few minutes. Jared took the chance to pull his pants on and he stood up.  
---  
  
"The Queen ended my exile to come home and find you."

"I ended your exile and you chose to follow the Prince Consort into the Otherworld to find him Kane.  You have done great honor once again to the Tempest," Titania said.

Jensen turned then and seemed to really see his mother for the first time.  He opened his arms to her with a soft, "Mother."  Titania was graceful even as she was swept into her son's arms.  She didn't speak but Jared could feel Jensen's reaction to his mother's emotions so he knew Titania was crying quietly in his embrace.

He turned away from the reunion, regret and guilt buried quickly before Jensen could read the emotion from him.  Alona, Misha and Matt walked over to Jared and he didn't know how much he needed it before Alona wrapped him in her arms.

"You did it Jared," she whispered.  "You brought him home."

Jared gave her a smile and he looked at Misha and Matt.  "I can't thank you enough for what you've done.  You had no reason to come to the Otherworld and yet you did to help me.  If there is anything you need, you only have to ask."

He looked over Alona's shoulder and saw the frown on Morgan's face and he knew what he needed to do.  "It's been a long journey and I should send you home while I am still able," he said.  Morgan gave a soft nod of his head and Jared knew he'd been worried about Alona.

The others seemed startled at the idea but Jared reassures them that he would return in the morning himself to talk to them.  Alona and Misha stood next to him and Alona took Jared's hand in hers.  
  
When Jared looked at Matt though the other man shook his head.  "Nice try man but if you're so tired I think I’ll wait until morning."  
  
"Matt?" Misha questioned.  
  
"You guys go on home.  I'm sure that the Prince's new found sanity and the knowledge Jared took into his head won't put them in danger.  Yeah I'm sure that whole line wasn't just to get us to leave so Jared could face the real danger alone.  I'm sure Jared will understand that we agreed to come help him find his mate and see them both home safely."  
  
Alona ripped her hand from Jared's quickly. "You thought I'd just go?"  
  
"Alona, it's not safe for you here.  You have to understand that," Morgan said as he stepped closer.  
  
She whirled on him then.  "And if you think I'm the sort of woman who abandons a friend when they are in trouble just to save their own necks, then you wasted five years of my life and didn't learn anything about me!"  
  
A chuckle caught their attention and they turned to see Jensen's broad smile.  "It was a fair try Jared but even the far prince isn't brave enough to send that one home against her will."  
  
Jensen held his hand up to stop Morgan from commenting.  "Love is a power stronger than the far can command and if she wills it, that love for her friend will see her safely home.  You and I have done what we could to keep them safe.  We have to trust them now to know when to stand."  
  
“Not that they have much of a choice now.”  
  
Jared turned as a new voice entered the clearing.  He could feel the edge of her malice from where he stood and he wanted to curse her steps as she entered.  He found himself crouched down to the ground, his fingers buried in the grass, power extending out to heal the wound of each footfall in his most sacred place.  
  
The Shadow Queen was beautiful to look at but there was something cold in her demeanor.  When Titania walked into the room people wanted to be embraced but when Samante came close people cringed away.  She was the heart of winter come to freeze the saps and topple trees.  Jared had only seen her from afar and he wished he’d been able to keep it that way.  
  
“What business do you have here, Samante?” Titania asked.  
  
“I heard the Prince was found and I wanted to offer my services in his recovery if they were needed.”  
  
Jared looked around the clearing and saw the way Trickster moved closer to Misha and Matt.  Alona stepped closer to Morgan.  Jared was the lone human in the clearing without a fae close to protect him.  He didn’t believe Samante would do anything to him – as Prince Consort he had Titania and Jensen’s protection – but the Shadow Queen had most likely been behind Jensen’s flight and his capture.  If she realized Jared had part of her secret then she’d act regardless.  
  
“I find it interesting that you know of my son’s whereabouts when I was just alerted.  My, how the vines speak in the Shadowlands,” Titania said softly.  “It’s almost as if you know he was on the run and didn’t send word to anyone.”  
  
“Trickster,” Samante called to the other fae, ignoring Titania.  “You keep interesting company these days.  One would think you didn’t like to come home.”  
  
“One could think many things and be erroneous, my Queen, but I have found the life of Court intrigue to be a fine game played by very skilled players.  It amuses me to play against someone of wit and cunning, instead of some of the Shadow who have only begun to hone their skills.”  
  
Samante smiled but it was full of displeasure.  “I will expect you back at the sidhe soon, Trickster.  You have been too long gone.  Even our once-lost Morgan has come home.  Surely you can see the signs as well as he can.”  
  
Jared didn’t know what she was speaking of but he had no doubt that both the Shadow fae with them did.  
  
“I am not tolerant today, Samante,” Titania demanded the fae’s attention.  “Leave Terrainial lands.  You are not summoned by the Queen and you are unwanted here.”  
  
“Oh but I am summoned,” Samante hissed.  “By the Prince himself.  By the human Consort who would destroy us all.  I am summoned as they hold a secret that is mine alone to know!”  
  
The other fae reached for the power of their lands and it was only then that the Shadow Queen looked at Jared.  “They will start a war over that pretty face,” she said quietly.  He knew then that he alone could hear her.  “They will all die to protect the simple human among them.  It is really too bad that you didn’t stop the humans from coming.  At least the fae have a chance of surviving the onslaught.”  
  
“Ambush!” Jared yelled to the others.  Samante looked startled but the others were in action as soon as he spoke.  Protective rings and defensive spells came forward as Samante’s fae began pouring into the clearing.  
  
Jared was already connected to his power and he rippled the earth outward, causing their enemies to fall to their feet.  As he stood, Jensen moved to his side with Kane beside him.  Both held blades of power in their hands and Jensen looked at fierce as Jared had ever seen him.  He was beautiful and otherworldly like this; earth at his call and an enemy in his sights.  This was the man Jared had loved, the passion and the controlled power that was Jensen.      
  
Their eyes met and Jared gave him a small smile before he had to turn away.  The Shadow came forward and though Jared had little hope of seeing the end of the day, he fought.  He fought for the man he loved and the mother who had blessed him.  He fought for his best friend, both warrior and healer. He fought for the others who had come from another world but who had journeyed with him for no reason other than he had needed them.  He opened himself to the bond, even the parts of himself that he had always held back, and as he did he felt wings rip through his shoulders.  The magic protected him against pain but he stumbled in shock as he felt the power of earth taken from him to be replaced by the strength of the winds.  He was no true fae but Jared had the ability to call on their power and he knew now that it was always how he was supposed to be.  He was Prince Consort and mate of the Terrainial Prince but he was not of the earth himself.  Jared was of the skies, of hurricanes and storms over the great seas.  He was not Tempest but he was not entirely human either.  His bond with Jensen, his love for Jensen and his need to protect his mate and his friends, made him something else.  
  
He ignored the wrongness of the magic and pulled it to him, letting instinct guide him as Jensen had always told him to.  It wasn’t the same as working earth and he didn’t have time for a learning curve.  He ignored the fear he felt from Jensen and turned his entire consciousness on finding the ability to defend.  
  
As one of the Shadow came close, Jared pushed outward with his magic and watched as the fae was thrown back ten feet.  It was a good start.  
  
“Look at him, Samante!” Morgan bellowed over the battle.  “Look at the human you deem too weak to be joined to us!”  
  
Jared ignored it but he knew what Morgan was trying to do.  He wanted the Shadow to doubt.  He wanted them to turn aside.  He wanted to save his sidhe but there was little hope of that while Samante ruled.  
  
“Tempests!  To the Otherly!”  
  
Jared looked up as the sky above them darkened.  Tempest fae dropped from the sky to stand before Kane.  Around them, Terrainial fae came flooding out of the forests around them from some call from their Queen that Jared couldn’t hear.  
  
“You think an alliance with the Tempests will save you Titania?  I will not back down!  That boy has the key to saving all of the Otherworld.  You would ruin it with your acceptance and your open arms!  The fae cannot be more human!”  
  
Titania laughed.  “Do you fear that so much, old woman?” The Queen taunted.  “You have not paid any attention to my sons then.  Look at Jensen and Jared, Shadow!  Look at the Prince and his Consort!  I dare you to see them in their full glory!”  
  
Jared felt the call of Mother’s power and the path of his bonds began to glow green again.  He could see it in the clearing, see it reflected in the eyes of his enemy.  Fae were fighting one another to keep Jared and Jensen from being together and all because they had been misled into believing they would become less than they now where.  
  
“You would seal the Seelie and the Unseelie together, close the Otherworld from humanity in your fear,” Jensen spoke.  
  
“You would damn all of the Otherworld by locking away it’s connection to humanity,” Jared echoed his partner’s voice.    “We will not allow you to sever the connection.  We will keep the secret ourselves, never to allow anyone to threaten this again.”  
  
“Unseelie!”  Samante raged and the battle turned again as a portal opened before them and the Unseelie began to attack.

 

  
  
Jared never had a moment to look for his friends.  He never had a moment to look for his lover.  The tide of Unseelie and Shadow fae came and it was battle.  Blood dripped from his wings, from his arms and legs.  Blood dripped from the sword that had manifested in his hands.  Magic ached in his bones as spells rebound off of protective magics and his own overuse of magic he knew nothing of.  
  
Retreat was sounded.  The Unseelie portal was destroyed.  Tempest fae chased after the survivors, driving them towards the sea where Adrienne waited with the Oceanic to have their own justice.  
  
Jared fell to the ground, his finger burying in the grass, searching for the energy to stay upright.  He wasn’t sure where he was injured or where his body hurt because Jensen was.  He knew only that his mate was alive.  Sometimes he thought he heard Jensen’s voice and other times he was sure it was just the echo of his heart.  Alona laughed somewhere, he thought.  
  
The earth clenched in his hands still had life to him.  Having gained the powers of the Tempest had not made the Terrainial magic desert him as he’d first thought.    There was blood surrounding them, blood and gore drenching the fields of what had been the home of his soul.  He let out a sob at that, his fingers digging in deeper to try to find the blessings that had been bestowed upon him that day.  
  
It was there.  He could feel it.  It was barely alive.  The Shadow and Unseelie had come to destroy his love, his very life, but they had failed and his spirit still remained among the grass and trees.  Barely.  
  
He dug his other hand down into the earth as well.  He needed to feel it, needed to find the place that had once been his happiest.  
  
“Jared,” he heard Jensen’s voice and he closed his mind to everything else.  “Please,” Jensen begged.  
  
Jared couldn’t stop.  He couldn’t let go of what had happened there.  
  
“Jared, please, let me help you.”  
  
Soft lips brushed against his and the world around him shook.  He felt Jensen’s fingers twine around his own, lips pressed to his, and Jared pushed with everything he had.  He pushed through Jensen, into Jensen, so that his mate would understand how alone and lost he was without him.  He pushed so Jensen would see that he only wanted to be with him.  He didn’t care about the fights or the arguments.  He knew they could find a way to make it work with his human life and Jensen’s fae world.  He pushed because he needed Jensen to know that whatever happened next, Jared was with him if he still wanted him.  
  
He felt the answer in his soul, the pure knowledge that Jensen had never wanted to walk out on Jared but he’d know something was coming and he’d needed the distance between them to keep everyone safe.  He knew Jensen had been attracted to Jared because of his strength but also because it meant Jared was strong enough to take care of himself, to stand up to Jensen in the way a mate needed to be able to do.  He knew that Jensen had never realized Titania would be so hurt over what happened that she’d wait three years to get Jared’s help.  Jensen loved him, needed him, and would never be able to walk away from his mate.  
  
The world crashed around them as Jared finally opened his eyes.  The clearing was devoid of the pain and hurt that had coated it moments ago and all he could feel then was Jensen.  Jensen in front of him with eyes wide and smiling.  
  
“Jensen?”  
  
Jensen laughed as he pressed his lips to Jared’s.  “Yes, my treasured?”  
  
“I grew wings.”  
  
He wasn’t sure why that came to mind with all the other questions that he wanted to ask.  The answer to that, at least, was self-evident.  Jensen had always said that someday Jared would find his own magic and not just have to take what Jensen could teach him.  Jared just hadn’t known if would happen like that.  
  
“You did,” Jensen said.  “You have never failed to surprise me, love.  I think perhaps now the entirety of the Otherworld can understand what I saw in you.”  
  
“Admit it, you just fell for a pretty face.”  
  
Jensen’s smile was soft as he leaned forward, fingers caked in earth as they brushed the hair from Jared’s face.  “It was the hair actually.  I always liked your hair.”  
  
Jared sighed.  “It always liked you too.”  
  
“I think you’ve become delusional,” Jensen laughed.  
  
“That’s your thing.  I’m just … tired.  Hurt.  Hungry.  Everything.  Don’t leave me, Jensen.”  
  
He felt his body pressed against Jensen’s and Jared closed his eyes and held on.  “Never Jared.  Never again.  Not for the Otherworld, not for earth, not the anything.”  
  
Jared let out a happy sigh then sank into the calling darkness.

In the aftermath, nothing ended as Jared thought it would.  Kane, Morgan, and Trickster had come out of the fighting relatively unharmed and Kane was already with the fae healing their wounds.  Jensen seemed to find the healing side of Kane to be comical but when a jest turned Kane away from him, Jensen realized it wasn’t something to be treading upon lightly.  To gain forgiveness for his error, he turned to Kane and asked for healing for them both.

Kane didn’t hesitate to take care of the Prince, smiling slightly when it was done.

“I believe it is finally time to go home,” Titania said as Jensen gave Kane a crooked smile.

Jared stepped away from Jensen before the Prince could realize he was gone.  He didn’t know how this moment would play out.  He knew that Jensen was with him again but Titania had been too caught up in politics to see Jensen’s earlier declaration.  Jared didn’t want to be a fight between Titania and her son but he refused to let her change who he was.

He was smart enough not to antagonize her though so he joined his friends in the clearing instead.

The court that had come to her aid began to leave then, going to their homes until such a time as she called for them again.  Jared stood beside Matt and Kane.  He knew the Tempest would head home as soon as possible to check on Genny.  He’d probably be back just as quick to show her off to his Tempest family too.

When Jared looked over at Alona, he thought maybe there was more than one happy ending to come from it all.  Morgan was standing beside Alona, looking down at her like she was every good thing that had ever happened to him.  Alona didn’t look much different even if she did try to look stern every few minutes.  Jared wasn’t sure how that would all end but he could see a bonding in their future.

“Jensen, are you ready to go home?” Titania asked.

Jared looked over and realized that though Jensen hadn’t moved, he was looking at Jared now.

“Yes. It is finally time to go home,” Jensen said.

Jared held his breath as Jensen moved away from his mother and stepped closer to him.  “Jared, I’ve lost you so many times and so many ways and I never thought I’d be with you again.  Will you let me come home now?  Let me be the mate you need.”

Jared stepped back, looking down at Jensen.  He thought of the last four years and how much he’d longed for Jensen. He thought of the years before, the fights and arguing.  Then he thought of the years they’d spent before that, loving and living together.

He looked down as Jensen twined their fingers together again and thought of the new wings on his back, of the moment of perfect understanding between them.  “Yes, Jensen, come home.”

“Jensen, you can’t mean to leave the Otherworld.  You aren’t well yet.” 

“I want to go home, Mother,” Jensen said as he turned to look at Titania.  “I know you’ve been worried about me but I need to be with my mate.  I need him to heal me.”

“There are others who could help you Jensen, others that didn’t abandon you.”

Jared closed his eyes but Jensen didn’t seem fazed by it.  “I know why you fear what you do Mother, but what happened isn’t Jared’s fault.  I will explain to you some other time, but today this isn’t your choice.  I will go home with my mate.”

Titania wasn’t happy about it but Jared stepped closer to Jensen, lending his support and strength.  He saw Titania as she noticed the gesture and something softened in her eyes.  “It is your choice, of course.  You will come to the Otherworld soon to let me know how you are, my son?  With my other son.”

It was a small step, the way Titania was calling him son again but Jensen smiled as if he knew it would all work out in the end.  “Yeah, we’ll keep in touch.”  Jensen looked back at Jared and the friends who’d brought him there and smiled.  “Are you going to take us back?”

Jared brought his friends together again and it was far less trepidation that he reached for the magic that was his to call.  They were barely home when everyone began making excuses to leave and Jared and Jensen were left alone again.

Jared wasn’t sure what would happen next, but Jensen had been through too much and Jared pushed him back towards the bedroom.  He stripped him out of his clothes and laid him out on the bed.  He took off his own shirt and lay down next to Jensen.

“Why are you stopping there?” Jensen asked as he leaned closer to Jared, brushing their lips together.  As Jared shivered, Jensen’s hands touched the feathers of his wings and they were suddenly gone.  Jared would have sighed at the loss of weight on his shoulders but then Jensen’s mouth was covering his again.   

Jared smiled when Jensen pulled back to look up at him.  “I thought you might want to get reacquainted with the mattress.  I remember how much you loved it when we bought it.”

Jensen grabbed Jared and rolled him until he was lying on top of him and smiled down.  “Oh I intend to get reacquainted with it.  That includes all my favorite activities.  Sleeping, napping, and finding every way possible to make you say my name in that voice I love so much.”

“Jensen,” Jared said as his mate kissed his neck.

“There it is,” Jensen said with a smile against Jared’s skin.  He pulled back then and looked at Jared.  “Gonna love you so good you forget I ever left Jared,” Jensen said softly.  “Gonna make you realize just how much I love you.”

“Oh yeah?” Jared asked with a smile.

“Oh yes.  I will make you realize just what it means to be my mate, my beloved, my Prince Consort.”

“And when I know?”

Jensen smiled.  “Then we’ll do it all over again.”

 


	2. Fuming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alona fumed but he stood at her front door, smiling like a fool. She smacked him on the chest twice just to make a point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the December Drabble Days

“We left Otherworld three weeks ago.  Where have you been?”  Alona fumed but he stood at her front door, smiling like a fool.  She smacked him on the chest twice just to make a point.  
  
Jeff, or Morgan as he was known among the Shadow Fae, sighed deeply.  “The Shadow Queen was defeated.  Someone had to take charge.”  
  
“You?”  
  
He touched her cheek lightly.  “I am the Shadow King now, and there is no Fae to stop me from doing this.”  
  
He kissed her.  As angry as she was, she held him tight and never intended to let him go.   

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who works so hard on the spn_j2_bigbang! This is such a great challenge and I am looking forward to finally catching up on all the stories I haven't been able to read yet! And a huge thank you to ldyghst for the amazing art she did! She was absolutely fabulous to work with and very patient with me! Please go see her art post and love on her extravagantly! [Master Art Post ](http://ldyghst.livejournal.com/222822.html)


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